Should the European Government Take in More Immigrants?

At the moment there is a lot of press about how much support European countries should be giving to asylum seekers and refugees due to the crisis in Syria but it is also important to discuss the larger role of immigrants coming to Europe and whether European nations should be allowing a larger number into their borders.

Taking the UK as an example it could seem obvious to people that with already a housing shortage with only 100 000 new houses being built every year, when according to university research to cope with an ever growing population 240 000 new homes are needed each year allowing a large number of immigrants in doesn't make sense. In fact the governor of the Bank of England, complained that housebuilding in the UK was half that of his native Canada, despite the UK having a population twice the size. The common metaphor of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole could be applied to these facts.

There are also some more ignorant arguments often heard against immigration. One of these is that many immigrants are coming to the country to claim benefits. In fact immigrants are less likely to with only 7% of immigrants claiming some sort of benefits compared to 15% of working age Britons. Regarding wages there is no evidence that immigrants bring down the average wages of a country but figures do show that for low-skilled jobs immigrants keep the wages low.

Although yearly figures show that the populations in European countries are expanding the rate of growth is slowing down along with the fertility rate. Many countries in Europe are now experiencing ageing populations. According to the European Commission's 2015 aging report, the dependency ratio of over-65s to the economically active 15-64 age group will increase to 50.1 percent, from 27.8 percent by 2060. That means there will be just two potential workers per retiree, down from almost four. The aging of the population shaves 0.2 percent a