Except, of course, when immigration does change wages:
Brexit has led to a shortfall of 330,000 people in the UK labour force, mostly in the low-skilled economy, a report by leading researchers has found.
The effect of this being that the capitalists now have to compete with each other for that low-skilled labour, increasing the price they must pay for it. If the lack of immigration raises wages then immigration lowers them from where they would be without it, doesn’t it?
As I’ve pointed out before:
Brexit is about to give us a problem with this, though. Karl Marx was right: wages won’t rise when there’s spare labour available, his “reserve army” of the unemployed. The capitalist doesn’t have to increase pay to gain more workers if there’s a squad of the starving eager to labour for a crust. But if there are no unemployed, labour must be tempted away from other employers, and one’s own workers have to be pampered so they do not leave. When capitalists compete for the labour they profit from, wages rise.
Britain’s reserve army of workers now resides in Wroclaw, Vilnius, Brno, the cities of eastern Europe. The Polish plumbers of lore did flood in and when the work dried up they ebbed away again. The net effect of Brexit will be that British wages rise as the labour force shrinks and employers have to compete for the sweat of hand and brow.
Or, as economists have been known to note, there’s no such thing as a shortage, there’s unmet demand at a particular price.
Immigration from non-EU countries failed to take up slack after freedom of movement ended
I’ll take it!
Let’s see if any increase in wages in those sectors that are suffering labour shortages will tempt the feckless and lazy from their chosen life of living on benefits (although thinking about it, as benefits go up in line with inflation there will no doubt still be shortages).
You could treat the immigrants the way they do in the Middle East, Addolff.
Addolff: Unlikely –
Squalor family on £84,000-a-year benefits shows welfare system is broken – LEO McKINSTRY
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/leo-mckinstry/1697647/welfare-uk-mel-stride-eastbourne-flat-mould-comment
But just recall how many academic economists (Wrong-Lewis et al) and even the BoE (including Mfor mindless Carney) refused to permit their putrid lefty minds to accept that cheap EU labour was affecting wage rates in certain types of job.
It’s not just Brexit though. We’re not in 2004; eastern Europe isn’t that poor any more.
The net effect of Brexit will be that British wages rise as the labour force shrinks and employers have to compete for the sweat of hand and brow.
Hence the cries for more non-Euro immigration, and the unwillingness of the Establishment to do anything to stop it.
Obviously immigration lowers wages. That’s one of its advantages. Just like allowing a competing shop in a town will reduce prices. We think it is an excellent idea to allow competition specifically to drive down prices in other areas – why not here also?