To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the economic contribution of migrants to the UK economy by (a) economic sector and (b) age cohort in each of the last five years. (178719)

Latest data available from the Office for National Statistics indicate that between the start of the current phase of the economic cycle in 2001 Q3 and mid-2006, migration contributed around 0.5 percentage points per year to growth in the working age population, and therefore towards the trend rate of growth in the economy.

The Treasury has not made any assessment of the contribution of migrants by economic sector. However, this is discussed in the recent Home Office/DWP submission to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Select Committee report ‘The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration’. This is available at:

http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7237/7237.pdf