[FiniteField]

The rub here is "skilled workers". Just after Brexit, the Boris Johnson Tory government adjusted immigration rules for "skilled" workers, and caused a civilisation-altering number of people (now known as the "Boriswave") to immigrate to the country, mostly from India, Africa, and other less developed areas. It's now known that almost every pay level and skill (or lack thereof) of job was eligible under the new rules, with some countries of origin, like Zimbabwe, having up to 10 dependents per worker on average IIRC. The same story has played out in the US with the "skilled" H1B visa scheme. People have lost all trust in governments to architect immigration laws in the interest of the natives, rather than giving big business carte blanche to import their own replacement workforce who will do any available job for the national minimum wage.

[bombcar]

"Skilled" sounds nice because it sounds like "doctors, educated" but the only real SAFE way to ensure it's actually skilled is make the dollar amounts so high that no company will want to use it to import cheap near-slave labor.

[robocat]

The other thing I've noticed about many immigrants is that they are highly motivated and effective. Gritty doers.

The immigration process filters for particular traits, not just what's on a resume.

[robocat]

> like Zimbabwe, having up to 10 dependents per worker on average IIRC

Some developed countries have terrible demographics and need fresh kids.

I am expecting that sometime soon New Zealand will start accepting unskilled immigrants if they have >2 healthy kids under 10 years old. It wouldn't surprise me if the dept of internal affairs already has a soft rule to encourage that.

At some point many countries with shitty demographics are going to have to start competing to import kids.

[dadadanda]

In the 19th century China enjoyed such an abundance of labour that they felt little need for an industrial revolution. By shovelling labour into developed countries you are depriving them of the impetus to innovate. It will have terrible long term effects.