To think that, in general, some of the hardest working people in the world are migrants?

[TheMellowExpert]

I’ve noticed that in many industries - healthcare, hospitality, construction, delivery, cleaning, you name it, it’s often migrant workers doing the hardest jobs, with the longest hours and the least recognition. Whether they’ve moved for better opportunities, are supporting family back home or just trying to build a new life, their work ethic is honestly on another level. I know it’s not everyone and of course there are hardworking people from all backgrounds but AIBU to think migrants, as a group, are often doing the work others won’t and getting little thanks for it?

Necessity does seem to result in a work ethic yes

This.

A good 75% of my workplace staff are migrants, they work hard because they have to in order to support not only themselves but family members back in their home country. Don’t get me wrong not all of them are hard workers, a good proportion are useless but that also applies to the British workers

Some are.

Some aren't.

And they are not working for thanks and glory, they work for money, they same way all of us do.

And this is why we need to have a system where those who are claiming assylum are processed quickly and allowed to work and contribute if found to have a valid claim

Of course and yes, that is absolutely my experience. But that truth doesn’t work for Reform, nor for anyone who somehow believes they deserve “more” for the unearned privilege of being born here.

We wouldn't need to import foreign labour if we weren't paying workshy Brits to have a working equivalent lifestyle on benefits...

Remittances. Many such cases of the UK economy propping up other countries. It's a very good way to choke off our economy. Money is supposed to go back in, not leak out.

I know. How very anti-globohomo of me to have that opinion.

Only not quite all of us are working. Many sit on benefits thinking menial jobs below them . Then complain about migrants.

AIBU to think migrants, as a group, are often doing the work others won’t and getting little thanks for it?

I voted YABU because the narrative that migrants do the work that others (meaning snobby or lazy brits) won’t do is utterly absurd.

It doesn’t sound like you are concerned about worker exploitation to me.

I meant the same way some of us are working hard and some aren't.

Lazy people tend not to migrate, moving to another country is hard, you need to be driven and have a good work ethic just to sort the actual move. You are also judged much more harshly, so you have to do more than others otherwise you’re put in the slacker category.

No- I’m sick of the stereotypes in both directions. I work with people who do 12-19hr days most days- they’re handsomely rewarded but they work hard.

No - I’ve met incredibly hardworking people from both migrant and non-migrant backgrounds. I’ve also met incredibly lazy people from both groups. These virtue-signalling generalisations help no one.

They aren’t coming here to do jobs no one wants out the goodness of their hearts. If someone is doing a badly paid job it’s because they have little choice- migrant or not. It’s also thanks to said cheap labour force that living standards get lower and facilitate corporations, multi millionaires to take from people.

All sorts of people move countries.

Some are happy to work their arses off, others are happy to sit on them all day long.

DS isn't a migrant and he works long, unsociable shifts in hospitality. I used to work two jobs to pay my rent. Some migrants sit on their bums all day claiming benefits, so do some Brits. YABU.

My husband and I came to this country on the highly skilled migrant programme which was a points based one and ended in around 2009. We had to keep our household income at a high level and not be unemployed for 5 years and I really really did not what to ever have to move back to my homeland. 15 years later and I still always err on the side of over working versus just in case. It becomes a built in mentality. I’m also forever grateful of the fact that I get to live in this relatively highly safe country!

No they don’t. One or two maybe.

You mean the sitting on their arse all day independently wealthy children of billionaires migrants?

Because you can’t get a visa to come here without paying a lot of cash and having a job offer at a decent wage, and then keeping it to get the visa renewed.

Presumably (& you’d hope!) their wages are taxed before any remittances are sent and they will buy things here so will pay VAT on purchases where applicable. If they are healthy & have families overseas they are not likely to be taking up school places / incurring healthcare costs either.

DH works in manufacturing and has said that the hardest workers he has worked with are migrants, he works with people here that are from all over the globe (Poland/ Hong Kong/ Latvia/ Romania/ Ghana to mention the few colleagues I remember him talking about.)

Dame Stephanie Shirley, who died recently, came here on the Kindertransport, and said she always felt she had to make her life one that was worth saving. I expect there are lots of immigrants who think like that, if they arrived as refugees.

Yes, and it’s frustrating when some British born people don’t respect that hard work.

I see it a lot at work, people not putting their lunch remains in the bin or leaving rubbish around or leaving facilities in a horrible state.

Plus the patronising of software engineers because of their accent.

Yes, you can get a visa without paying thousands.
Do your research first. I'm not doing it for you.

But really, my point is that migrants and just people, some with a strong work ethos, others not.

I support migration, the UK would topple over without migration.

But honestly OP, this just feels like virtue signalling. Yes, huge numbers of migrants work immensely hard, in the UK and other countries, and some migrants don’t. Citizens of all countries work hard, and some don’t. Is positive stereotyping really much better than negative stereotyping?

Here’s one way this argument could go: migrants work really hard so of course they don’t need access to out of work benefits. Is that ok?

The majority of migrants who work bloody hard do so because they have to. Whether they’re in the UK reliant on keeping a visa, sending money home, or having been trafficked. They’re not some different breed which works harder than a UK citizen. We take advantage of this. There is a huge grey area of people who are here legally, but in ways which closely resemble illegal trafficking.