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Part of the justification for current anti-immigrant sentiment, and Brexit, boils down to "they took our jobs!" More accurately: Immigrants did jobs that citiz

Part of the justification for current anti-immigrant sentiment, and Brexit, boils down to "they took our jobs!" More accurately: Immigrants did jobs that citizens were unwilling to do for market rates. The market hasn't changed. Low-cost labor is still required, and robots will fill those roles. If anything, I'd be worried about a net reduction in jobs as a result of removing immigrants... smaller businesses that lack the capital for automated labor may themselves priced out of business trying to employee citizens. At this point good creative work is probably the closest thing to automation immunity, as well as patient-facing healthcare (ie nurses)... for the rest of us education and experience is the only job security we have.

Firadeoclus 10y ago
If the supply of labour changes because potential immigrants stay away then the market has certainly changed. Market rates are not fixed.
CM30 10y ago
Part of me simply says "Good. If your business can't afford to pay a living wage to its employees and depends on exploiting poorer people to keep going... well perhaps it doesn't deserve to stay open." I mean, it's clearly not a sustainable business for the number of employees you're hiring, in the same way a cheap coffee or meal made affordable by sweatshop or slave labour isn't a sustainable deal. Either way, if you can't afford to hire someone at a decent wage (or in some cases, even minimum wage), then you don't hire them. You find a new business to get into or do as much as you can yourself or through contractors.