Restricting incoming international talent into the UK will exacerbate the tech industry’s skills gap; according to the employee relocation platform, Jobbatical, in its latest report.
Within the report, ‘A case for rethinking skilled immigration in the UK’, Jobbatical reveals the extent of problems caused by staff shortages. In fact, around 58 per cent of businesses rely on international workers to fill open positions.
The latest report from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, which revealed that, after the health sector, the industries granted the highest number of skilled worker visas in the year ending June 2023 were professional and technical services (eight per cent), finance (five per cent) and IT (five per cent).
The most acute skills gaps faced by mid-to-large-sized technology businesses in the UK, according to Jobbatical’s survey of senior business professionals, include cybersecurity (cited by 47 per cent of respondents); AI (47 per cent) and data analysis (44 per cent).
Many of those surveyed by Jobbatical believe that international workers can play a role here. Around 67 per cent of senior business professionals within the technology industry say that UK businesses need more international workers. Meanwhile, 49 per cent say that skills, qualifications, or experience that existing employees don’t have would positively influence their decision to hire international workers and 58 per cent of mid-to-large-sized technology businesses view international recruitment as a long-term business strategy.
Is the UK government ‘shooting itself in the foot’?
Despite these findings, the UK government recently introduced new immigration rules, making it much more cost-prohibitive for businesses to recruit foreign workers.
Karoli Hindriks, co-founder and CEO of Jobbatical, comments: “Recruiting local talent is increasingly not an option as tech companies battle with skills shortages and limited talent pools. The UK simply isn’t creating a big enough supply of the right talent for this sector.
“The education system isn’t set up in a way that delivers the quantity and quality of talent in much-needed, developing STEM areas like data analysis, cybersecurity and AI. Without further investment in these fields, and a skilled immigration policy that’s aligned with what the technology industry actually needs, then the UK risks losing its globally competitive standing to countries with more progressive policies and better talent flows.”
Businesses recognise the benefit of attracting foreign workers to the UK, and 67 per cent of the senior business professionals surveyed in the technology industry say that the government should make the UK more attractive to foreign workers.
Overall, 60 per cent feel that the existing immigration policy is harmful to UK businesses and the same proportion of businesses would be more likely to hire international workers if visa and sponsorship costs were cheaper, and 67 per cent would be more likely to do so if the process for hiring international workers were clearer.
“The current visa process for international workers can often be complex, convoluted and costly, with the UK having one of the most expensive employment visas in the world. Especially in light of new changes, this system no longer supports the technology industry and the UK government is shooting itself in the foot by making the immigration process even more cost-prohibitive,” Karoli added.
