Polish baby boom in UK

[WendyWeber]

blimey - I know they are a valuable addition to our economy, and work v hard, but from 1300 in 2003 to 13000 in 2007; that would be 130,000 in 2011 and 1,300,000 in 2015 if they carry on at the same rate

I live in Scotland and I think the Polish immigration here has been so much for the best. The poles I've met have been likeable and intelligent - obviously not everyone in a nation is going to be like that - but they are really, really hard working an the Scottish economy has benefitted hugely from that.

My friend owns a building company and all of his workers are Polish. The foreman had sent him a list of things the workmen needed for some houses they were building and the list included massive floodlights. When my friend queried it the foreman said the polish builders wanted to work at night. This meant the project was finished earlier, my pal's costs were down and the houses went on the market at less than they had originally planned.

(BTW the builders weren't being exploited, they get paid £16.50 per hour, roughly the going rate for a Brit workie apparently)

My dh laughed the other day as some Eastern European workers from the company he works for were stopped by the police on site. the police thought they must be criminals as it was about six thirty and everyone else had gone home, they were still working. And they have families here too.

I would love to know where to find one of these Polish plumbers 'who are coming over her & taking all our DHs' jobs'. Having wairied in on various occasions for the honme-grown variey who were late, patronising, rude and expensive, I long for someone who will turn up on time, and do the job, if they are from Poland, Ethiopia or Timbuktu.

Just going back to the OP. Even 1 million by 2015 is 1.6% of the population. Thats not very many. The Daily Mail, as usual, thinks people will see the number 'million'and think we are being over-run.

don't know if anyone has pointed this out but with an aging population being supported by fewer and fewer workers, we need immigration so that when we are old there are tax-payers paying for our pensions.

If our youngsters don't like Eastern Europeans taking their jobs then maybe they should work harder? The job goes to those with qualifications who are prepared to work. If someone is better qualified then it doesn't matter where they are from, they are going to get the jobs.

I just checked out the current UK birthrate - it's 10.67 births per 1000 population, or 648,480 per year with the latest population figures.

1.3 million on top of that is a lot, actually!

Not that it would go up to that figure of course, and yes we do need more young people to prop up all the baby boomers in their dotage, but we are being warned of a population explosion and we do have limited space here.

If our youngsters don't like Eastern Europeans taking their jobs then maybe they should work harder?

that's one of the most depressing things i've read on this thread. don't you think we should be worrying about our own children then?

and wondered how long it would take someone to mention the nazis. what's that got to do with this?

Of course we should and I would question why many of our young poeple don't work.

"I just checked out the current UK birthrate - it's 10.67 births per 1000 population, or 648,480 per year with the latest population figures."

but surely the UK birthrate already includes babies born to immigrants settled in the UK??

maybe because their own education needs to be improved nmcoffee. which is at the moment under threat.

how many young people do you know who don't work? and why don't they?

lack of apprenticeships maybe. or do you just think they're too bone idle.

Yes, QoQ, but see OP - this year that's only 13,000 (estimate) or 2% of the total.

exactly - it's only 2% of the total births......so really nothing to worry about - if it was 98% of the population - then yes you could be concerned

SEA - our state education (the one i received anyway) is shit. deserves tons more investment in time , money and resources, as well as imagination and innovation. but how in the hell is that the fault of polish people?? did they vote our govts who make the decisions on these things in? er, no.

But 4 years ago it was only 0.2% .

This is where we came in, QoQ - do you get maths?

from what i heard on bbc yesterday here it seems like more money will be taken from our already struggling system.

it's the government's fault. should i not be concerned then?

and where have i said anything about the poles?

the 4 young males in the council flat opposite me. Late teens/early 20's. All fit as a fiddle. Spend all day drinking beer and abusing passers by. Wish they were out at work.

Yes HeyThereBert state education here is woeful. And our maternity services are one of the worst in Europe. All this was the case before the entry of the Poles.
Look, a lot of the jobs Poles are doing are the jobs that British people don't want. They are jobs that desperately need filling. Our young people don't want to be bus drivers or labourers. you can actually earn fairly ok money on jobs like that if you're prepared to put in the hours. and as for the tourist industry, there is another industry where there was a desperate lack of good, polite service.
Anway, the government has now stopped Romanians and Bulgarians coming in to work, which of course they think is immensely unfair. And for people from other Eastern European countries trying to get a visa here is like trying to eat a bicycle. So you lot have got loads to be happy about.

how do you know they don't want to be bus drivers or labourers?

i work with people from eastern europe and further afield. but i really don't buy this 'english are too lazy to do the job' line.

oh and when dp was on strike this year, the poles were striking too.

So you lot have got loads to be happy about

er what's that meant to mean.