Today's research suggests that fears of a dramatic decline in the skills of British graduates and school-leavers are driving employers to look abroad.

Of those questioned, 42% felt the literacy skills of British graduates had fallen over the past five years, compared with just 6% who said they had improved. For numeracy the corresponding figures were 35% and 5%, and for communication and interpersonal skills 34% and 19%. There was a similar pattern when it came to British school-leavers.

Many firms are also looking to recruit from abroad, with one in six saying they will bring in migrant workers in the third quarter of this year.

bringing in labour saves companies a huge amount on wages
and that is the only reason they want overseas labour

it keeps the local wage bill low so the companies can have greater/larger profit margins
nothing more nothing less, British business at its very best ...

Why should they be allowed into this country and be allowed to use public services when they've never contributed a penny towards them?

They should only be allowed in if they already have a job to go to, they shouldn't be let just because the jobsworths in the EU say they can.

Why should they be allowed into this country and be allowed to use public services when they've never contributed a penny towards them?

I'm not against people coming to live in this country, but I don't like the idea of people coming here just to sponge off our welfare system.

It also allows our citizens to migrate to Germany like BigD and people like Bratty come here.

I was under the impression that for the most part, immigrants to this country have actually paid more in tax than they tend to take out of the system. Most don't settle here, but are trying to build a nest egg to take back home, so we're not saddled with a pension bill, for instance.