Waves of Emigrants Leaving Britain
Give us your tired, your poor, your overtaxed Englishmen yearning to work free.
Recently, the UK newspapers have been full of pieces about emigration from the country. This is in sharp contrast to the normal focus on immigration to the UK. Emigration is at its highest level since right after World War II. To quote a recent Telegraph piece on the subject:
We now learn from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that we lead the world in exporting talent, with a higher proportion of highly skilled professionals emigrating from this country than from any other (except Mexico). The OECD estimates that 1.1 million highly skilled Britons — more than one in ten of the total — are now living overseas. That 1960s phenomenon, the Brain Drain, is back.
It is estimated that two million UK residents will leave the UK in the next ten years. Add to this the statistic that one in ten British citizens is currently living outside the UK, and an interesting picture begins to emerge. This situation is not so surprising given that the UK is an island nation and its major export has been human capital for many centuries.
What is striking is the number of people that one encounters every day, whether acquaintances or people met in casual situations, for instance in taxis, who readily discuss emigration.
I do understand that my having a North American accent might prompt such discussions. However, I find in chatting with friends that this subject is regularly on everyone’s lips. Of course, there are lots of reasons to emigrate, ranging from romance to the search for new challenges and the desire to be properly compensated for one’s efforts.
There is a significant number of 30- and 40-something educated professionals who increasingly find that their income is not keeping up with their expenses. The official government line is that inflation is 3%, but everyone knows from personal experience that it is closer to 8% if food, transport, fuel, and taxes are included.
For practical purposes, there has been a pay freeze in many sectors of the economy due to negative or flat future growth expectations.
Despite talk of recession in the U.S., even though it has perhaps not occurred yet, most of these individuals are either aiming to move to the U.S., looking into it, or would like to. Because of the favorable exchange rates with the dollar in contrast to weakening economies on the continent, there seems to be little interest in a move to Spain or to France. Of course, Australia gets a look from many.
Referring to my recent piece on new regulations requiring annual payment of $60,000 (£30,000) for each non-domiciliary, the resulting exodus of non-domiciliaries from the UK is hindering financial services growth. Perhaps even more important is that the basic unfairness of this and many other similarly targeted regulations from the current government leads the highly educated and experienced to seek the certainty of a job in another country. After all, if the government is targeting the most productive foreigners, certainly the most productive residents are next on their list. (Indeed the recent change in capital gains taxation hits at productive investment in new companies.)
Companies have gotten the message too. Several large companies have announced headquarters moves to Ireland. This situation is eloquently described by Guido Fox as “taxodus.” He even has a clever logo for it. As Gordon Brown desperately seeks more sources of income in the faltering economy, this company exodus is only set to increase.
This time, with the ease of travel and easy transfer of universal skills, it is possible that the numbers will outdo the previous exodus. UK professionals continue to work for UK-based businesses and individuals while living a much less expensive lifestyle in another part of the world — not a loss of standard of living, but a substantial reduction in costs. The UK is educating people only to have them leave the country and pay taxes somewhere else.
One has to wonder if those who wish to retain the taxes of those emigrating might find more devious ways of making sure that the government continues to benefit from their earning potential by taxing them for the provided education. Some decades ago, the Soviet Union pioneered a method to tax people emigrating.
It will be interesting to see how government handles the increasingly mobile and flexible professional workforce. If past experience — specifically the 1970s — is anything to go by, these efforts may increase the flow rather than stop it. Handled badly it may simply increase the number of people giving up their citizenship for that of a foreign land. And a trickle may become a solid trend.
Andrew Ian Dodge blogs at Dodgeblogium.
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44 Comments
1. Dodgeblogium » My latest PJM: UK Emigration…:[...] Waves of Emigrants Leaving Britain Yet again the UK is exporting one of its most precious commodities…its people. [...]
Jun 13, 2008 - 3:41 am 2. RE:What I find fascinating is that the Democrats want to replicate British dysfunction here in the US.
Jun 13, 2008 - 4:26 am 3. TomJW:Given that Europe offers us many fine examples of the results of leftist policies, it is as though the Democrats are acting maliciously and with the purposeful intent to do harm.
I read the emmigration wave started in the Netherlands a couple of years ago. Are the British afraid to mention the muslims might be the reason they are leaving?
Jun 13, 2008 - 4:58 am 4. Kathy Shaidle:Surely taxes aren’t the only reason people are fleeing?
With Muslims setting up no-go zones and threatening to behead people in public — with police protection no less; with the degradation of the culture thanks to chav chic; with violent crime epidemic even without ready access to handguns…
Britons are right to fear that those “rivers of blood” are one their way.
Jun 13, 2008 - 5:17 am 5. Chaya:TomJW
Shhhh! You’re not supposed to say that!
Jun 13, 2008 - 5:22 am 6. jerry:RE:
The Democrats are acting in full knowledge of the effects of their policies. Like all socialists they seek to reduce the standard of living and increase dependency on the Government. The only difference between the Democrats and kleptocrats like Mugabe and Chavez is a matter of degree and the limitations imposed by the US Constitution.
Based on the experienced gained in the Chicago political scene a President Obama will push the corruption envelope and begin the same kind of rape of the American economy that you see in third world kleptocracies.
Jun 13, 2008 - 5:33 am 7. Amphipolis:Muslim immigration combined with European emigration combined with low fertility equals a very different nation in the next generation.
Oh, and add to that the accelerating conversions.
Jun 13, 2008 - 5:39 am 8. Mike:Leftist policies always cause economic hardship for those that actually work. But hey, with the welfare state, only a fool works anyway. What, 25% of the people can’t support 75%.? Democracies always fail eventually because the scum discover they can vote themselves free money. Just pray Obama doesn’t get in, he’ll make Mau seem like Goldwater.
Jun 13, 2008 - 5:43 am 9. BizzyBlog » Things I’d Like to Post About Today ….. (061308, Morning):[...] of emigrants are leaving Britain. Money quote: “Despite talk of recession in the U.S., even though it has perhaps not occurred [...]
Jun 13, 2008 - 6:21 am 10. Mark:I believe the article stated 1 in 10 *skilled* workers live abroad, whereas your restatement claims 1 in 10 of all Britons live abroad.
Jun 13, 2008 - 6:50 am 11. Michael Canzano:It is simple… “An addition of Muslims to a nation is a subtraction in civilization.” Anyone or any country unable to digest this fact is operating in either denial , politial insanity or both.
Jun 13, 2008 - 7:24 am 12. ~Paules:American Christian Infidel
Taxation and redistribution are the means by which politicians rob Peter to pay for Paul’s vote. The decision by skilled professionals to emmigrate might be an unintend consequence of tax policy, but the phenomenon is completely predictable to anyone who understands economics. Why is it so hard for socialists to understand market forces? It is, after all, just a simple math problem, no more difficult than balancing your checkbook.
Every year I teach a unit on socialism to my government and economics class. I deduct points from my hardest working students and redistribute them to the slackers. By day two I get the first grumbles of discontent. By the end of the week no one is working and everyone is failing. Point made.
The United States has always benefited from immigration. We are a magnet for the world’s hard workers, visionaries, and risk takers. There is but one explanation for this; it’s called liberty. From liberty do all things flow: abundance, prosperity, health, wealth and leisure. Why is this so difficult to understand?
Jun 13, 2008 - 7:38 am 13. Micheal T:Emigrating Britons can be a mixed blessing. After WWII many left the UK for Canada where they became known as the”Over ‘Omes” because they were always rhapsodizing how wonderful things were over ‘ome. When asked why they didn’t return to the UK, the response was”are you crazy?” Keep the Brits over ‘ome.
Jun 13, 2008 - 7:56 am 14. Sandra M:If we lower the corporate tax rate, (2nd highest in the world) more companies will come to America.
Brits who come to America escape the class system which keeps you from rising “above your station in life” as Prince Charles once said . Cary Grant, Michael Caine and Kay Kendall are 3 Cockneys who were seen as aristocrats once they emigrated.
When I lived in Mallorca, my British landlords wore ascots and had obviously risen several rungs in the social ladder by moving abroad. That has always been the great attraction of moving abroad for the Brits.
Now, the Islamic takeover of England, Spain and France promises an influx of educated talent to America. Let’s welcome the smart ones and make room by exiling the America-haters to the nation of their choice, with travel paid and even “reparations” for Trinity Church’s flock. DNA now allows Blacks to know what tribe they belong to. They can now return to that Paradise they came from.
Jun 13, 2008 - 9:21 am 15. Ken H:I worked with a Brit in the 90’s who told me many of the things mentioned in this article. She also noticed that people in the US took better care of their neighborhoods than they did in the UK because people there expected the government to maintain things. Sorry, but I don’t remember where she had lived in the UK, so I don’t have any more info.
Jun 13, 2008 - 10:08 am 16. Michael Canzano:Paules , you have the answer. Get em when they are young and show them Socialism is failure personified. Your example is brilliant. Warms my Conservative America Loving Heart to see someone with real intelligence teaching. Bravo !
Jun 13, 2008 - 10:18 am 17. Tom Holsinger:American Christian Infidel
I recall seeing a contrary statistic someplace which pointed out that most of the emigration was by recent immigrants. The numbers of native-born Britons who emigrate has allegedly little changed in the past twenty years.
So you might want to look at these statistics more carefully.
Jun 13, 2008 - 10:35 am 18. RE:Tom Holsinger,
There is evidence to support the author. The comments section is are particularly interesting:
Emigration soars as Britons desert the UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1569400/Emigration-soars-as-Britons-desert-the-UK.html
Jun 13, 2008 - 10:58 am 19. David Gillies:I pledged in 1997 that should Labour win the general election, I would make every effort to flee the country, as it was inevitable that sooner or later they would wreck the place, as they have done every time voters’ memories fade sufficiently to let the vermin back in. Labour duly won, I moved in 1999, and watched my predictions come true. It’s distressing seeing the utter shambles the incompetent autist Gordon Brown has made of the excellent economy he inherited, but sadly not surprising. Strikes are on the rise, taxes are swingeing, public services are appalling, cronyism and corruption are rife. All we need now is a sterling crisis to recreate the dog days of the previous Labour administration under Jim Callaghan.
Jun 13, 2008 - 4:08 pm 20. NB:Mr Gillies provides ample evidence that if America elects Obama, we deserve what we get. Never forget that Obama (and his liberal bedmates) think Europe is a model to be aspired to. BLECH!
Jun 13, 2008 - 11:13 pm 21. Andrew Ian Dodge:What is most worrying to my wife, a Londoner, is the fact that the unions feel so empowered under the weak Gordon Brown. Right now we have petrol lorry drivers, who make about $70k a year striking for a 13% increase in their wages. Other unions are promising more trouble over the summer. There are those mumbling about another “winter of discontent”.
Rest assured Gordon Brown will hold on until the last possible minute to hold an election. It will be interesting to see if Labour knife and get someone new in before that time.
Jun 14, 2008 - 1:15 am 22. Alvin:Just wondering if we couldn’t effect a trade with the UK…They send us their educated skilled yearning to be free & we send them the Democratic party?
My main question though is if Obama wins what country will be safe for freedom?
Jun 14, 2008 - 9:44 am 23. Frodo the Scot:Britain has a Scourge of BAD polititions who DONT think
Jun 14, 2008 - 10:22 pm 24. Alan Kellogg:because they are ONLY there for the Obscene pay and benefits
‘Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a
delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an
unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the
proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.’……………………
TOLERANCE eliminates freedon of speech and developes
hidden agendas which will inevitably rear its ugly head as extreme hatreds
Keep in mind that as conditions worsen in any environment there comes a time when life cannot sustain itself. Russia loses the most population because conditions there are atrocious. Italy somewhat less, because conditions are somewhat better. But still there is an active incentive to not have children. There will come a time when governmental oppression in Britain will worsen to the point that British society will experience its own demographic collapse. Which will lead to conditions getting even worse, more governmental action to deal with the situation (the beatings will continue until morale improves), and accelerated population loss.
Societies do best when the members are left to take care of the small matters themselves. They die when their leaders try to do everything.
Jun 14, 2008 - 10:46 pm 25. Mats:Come to Portugal, my fellow Christians. We are not suffering from the islamic desease YET.
Jun 16, 2008 - 5:46 am 26. John Samford:“My main question though is if Obama wins what country will be safe for freedom?”
Alvin, IIRC it was a real leader who once described the USA as the last best hope of mankind. FDR? RR? Back in the day when Democrats loved America too.
Jun 16, 2008 - 9:25 am 27. Jason:Your answer is D. None of the above.
Interesting, I have met several Brits that immigrated to U.S. over the past 15 yrs..they all have a desire for more freedom and safety and they accomplish this by moving to the U.S. and arming themselves! Curious to see how many other Brits feel the same way…stupid of the British Government to essentially disarm their law-abiding people and leave them at the mercy of thugs..pity..”"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” – President Ronald Reagan
Jun 16, 2008 - 8:32 pm 28. The Rabid One:The socialist democrats, regardless of country of citizenship, are dismantling the Western Culture stone by stone. The unchallenged illegal and legal influx of extremists and terrorists throughout the Western World is going to come back to haunt all of our children or us. While in America we still have some shadow of the Liberties we once enjoyed; we too will soon reflect the type of socialist government philosophy that has sprouted throughout Europe. One trait to watch for in the political leadership is arrogance. More and more of the socialist democrats are emboldened in what they see is a chance to finally wrest control of the reigns of power and strip the final control from the citizenry. If the past policies enacted by corrupt politicians continue at some juncture the Western World as a whole and America in particular may suffer through a struggle to regain Liberty. That struggle may manifest itself in the form of civil unrest or an outright revolutionary response to the actions of corrupt politicians. If America does enter that era, and I pray it doesn’t, then the result could very well make the French Revolution pale in comparison. It is best to prevent such events via legislative and other structured methods of redressing grievances; but I am afraid we have passed that fork in the road. At least I can’t see that path on the map.
Jun 17, 2008 - 7:05 am 29. Roderick Reilly:Ooooohhhhh!!! You’re all such hate-mongers! Wait ’til I turn you into the Human Rights Tribunals!
What, we don’t have tribunals in America yet? Well, what’s Canada waiting for? They send us all their comedians and musicians, don’t they? Why not send us their unintentionally funny people as well? Does Obama have to get elected first?
Jun 17, 2008 - 2:38 pm 30. Odds ‘n Sods: | Islamic Alert - Islamic Alert: Islam and Terrorism In The Daily News. Islamic Jihad, Islamic Terrorism, Islamic Blogs, The True Nature of Islam.:[...] Thanks to KAF for finding this: Waves of Emigrants Leaving Britain. [...]
Jun 17, 2008 - 8:34 pm 31. deguello:How racist of these people,to insist on their cultural and religious traditions:don’t they realize that without multiculturalism and diversity, the globalist goal of reducing wages and living standards in the West to third world levels, cannot be realized?These people must be put in sensitivity training camps,er classes to make them understand that nationalism and pride in western culture stand in the way of enriching the globalist plutocracy.
Jun 18, 2008 - 7:57 am 32. thud:I am one of the many planning to leave..the left when commenting on this situation usualy say good riddance but as I pay a rather large amount of tax I would imagine I could be counted as an asset.In my family and social circle I would estimate over half wish to leave and several have or are in the process of.The reasons for most being a combination of all the reasons given in other posts above.
Jun 18, 2008 - 8:14 am 33. Scott Wiggins:Please come to America…We love Brits and still have lots of room. And, we could use some help keeping our ever more intrusive government at bay. You see, we have the socialist disease as well since we pay for the unproductive to reproduce. While we are not yet in an advanced phase of this disease we may be able to survive.
Jun 18, 2008 - 8:58 am 34. Laura:The Brits are lucky to at least be able to apply for US citizenship. As a Canadian, I cannot get into the US unless I marry or get a job. Too bad I am white and speak English, therefore I cannot claim refugee status. (unless being a conservative in a liberal province counts)
Jun 18, 2008 - 12:40 pm 35. Laura:As a Canadian, I cannot even apply for U.S. citizenship. The Brits are lucky!!
Jun 18, 2008 - 12:41 pm 36. Baz:Did you not know that the UK is an Islamic country? Thanks to Blair and his Socialist cronies, if you get Obama in the White House you will follow the UK into oblivion. We are finished as a country, THE END.
Jun 18, 2008 - 3:03 pm 37. Kevin:*Anecdotal information alert* … I work for a small UK-based firm with a U.S. office. I’ll note that one by one, so far 4 Brits have now transferred to the U.S. office (including 2 of the 3 co-founders), another is due soon, and yet another one confided in me that he tried to move to the U.S. years ago but couldn’t get a work visa. Meanwhile none of us Americans has expressed any interest in transferring the other direction, as far as I know. Nice enough to visit, as they say, but wouldn’t want to live there.
Jun 18, 2008 - 4:29 pm 38. Mark:Firstly hello to America and my first time posting here.
Jun 18, 2008 - 6:01 pm 39. STEVE DUNKLEY:Secondly, I’m British of Scottish birth and education that has lived in London for 14 years. I know of many people like myself, middle class and skilled who are desperately trying to get out of the UK.
There are many reasons why but the common denominator is our Left Wing, Socialist, NuLabour government. Tony Blair’s administration, now being run by Gordon Brown and his cronies, have successfully destroyed the UK, from education to transport and healthcare to Law and Order.
This place is no longer safe anymore to live in! I’m someone who is more than capable of handling myself, but I fear getting attacked, not for being beaten, but defending myself, being arrested for GBH and imprisoned!
There is of course a growing Islamist element in the UK too, no go areas(you call them ghettos) springing up all over the UK, continuing Islamic appeasement from the government, persecution of the people for ridiculous offenses and much, much more.
I’m deciding where to go but USA & Canada are my first two choices, followed by Australasia.
I would also like to state that having to leave one’s homeland because you have been betrayed by your government, who now look upon the indigenous people as 2nd class citizens, compared to immigrants is a terrible predicament to be in.
Yes, I too will be an immigrant, but a skilled one, unlike the millions of unskilled who have arrived in the UK over the last 11 years from Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
Our Country is no longer controlled by Westminster, but by Brussels in Europe. It is a terrible place to live – London. I’m desperately trying to get out and hope to, within the next 2 years.
I too live in the uk and iam very upset about the economic problems here too, rising,food prices, cuts in health care, education is becoming les availble there is a rise in the percpetion of high crime usually by middle class suburbanites who have little experince of violent crimes. the working and middle classes pay a higher price for taxes for less public services while the the super rich pay virtually nothing whats 30 grand to a billionaire but they bulk at even paying that. i would love to go some where to escape these problems but 1. i dont have the cash and 2 even if i could go there is actually no where else to go because all these problems are global phenomenons brought on by a neoliberal world wide market system that is now in crises. steve
Jun 19, 2008 - 1:23 am 40. Dodgeblogium » Like in the UK…getting that 70s feeling?:[...] Well you aren’t the only one. Might be a good reason why so many are emigrating. [...]
Jun 20, 2008 - 1:35 am 41. Andrew Ian Dodge:The sad thing is that most of the people I know are not convinced that a Conservative Government over Cameron will be that much better than Labour. They are still obsessed with using government as a cudgel to change behaviour, oblivious to the fact that people see enviromental moves by govt. as an excuse for money raising and not that sure of their eurosceptic credentials.
Note to Republicans: You think McCain is too centrist check out Cameron and his rhetoric.
Jun 20, 2008 - 1:40 am 42. Pajamas Media » Strikes Poised to Cripple UK:[...] I did a piece here on the so-called brain drain that is affecting the UK at the moment. I made comparisons to the last big wave of emigration from [...]
Jul 6, 2008 - 1:15 am 43. Kimberly:I’m a 50 y/o born and raised in Michigan, USA. I grew up in the good old days, when being an American and of conservative to moderate beliefs was something to be proud of. God Help Us! I’m afraid the Big O will turn us into the USA of freakin France. For God sake, Keith Obermann, MSNBC anchor, is still bashing Sarah Palin. The woman lost, give it a rest. These morons like Obermann are so liberal they can’t stand anyone who thinks differently. We are in big trouble.
Nov 7, 2008 - 8:32 pm 44. Dodgeblogium » Game companies it Ireland?:[...] not just individuals who are ditching the UK because of crime, taxes, and a slow economy, game companies might soon [...]
Oct 1, 2009 - 7:30 am