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tion (18.1% and 11.8% respectively). Migrants are, therefore, clearly responding to the particular needs that the UK economy presents to them more readily than those already in the UK. This effect has been amplified by the fact that the UK has seen a period of uninterrupted growth of the economy from the mid-1990s until recent years.

Thus there are considerable macroeconomic effects affecting the increased levels of migration into the UK. These types of findings are also reflected in equivalent microeconomic phenomena. Blauw (2002) has examined the reasons why employers have a tendency to use migrant workers. Blauw (2002) found that while employers tended to look first in the UK labour market, if they couldn't fill the positions they had available they began their search amongst migrant workers. Research carried out in Northern Ireland by Bell, Jarman and Lefebvre (2004) found that migrants were required in particular to fill both skilled and unskilled gaps in the labour market. It has also been found that migrant workers are often seen by employers as being ‘better workers'. Reed (2005), for example, investigated migrant workers in the food manufacturing industry. It was found that the use of migrant workers had decreased the amount of sickness leave as well as the turnover of employees.

Many of these findings were backed up by research into employers of migrant workers by Dench et al. (2006). They also found that in the agricultural industry domestic workers simply did not apply for the jobs that required filling, while in the hotels and catering industry domestic workers were not prepared to work the flexible hours that were required for the job. Dench et al. (2006) points out that it is natural to assume that perhaps employers were not trying very hard to fill their jobs with domestic workers, given that migrant workers frequently provide cheaper labour. This idea, though, was strongly denied by employers who claimed that they had made extensive efforts to recruit domestic workers, but without success. Some employers in the agricultural sector reported that when they tried to recruit from the Jobcentre, potential employees would come for an interview just so that they could prove they had been for an interview, so that could claim benefits. Other employers in the same sector explained that domestic workers would often quit after only a few days' work. On the other hand migrant workers often worked hard and stayed in the job. Some similar results were seen in the hotels and catering sector. The approach to their work that domestic workers showed was very low compared to the dedication that migrant workers displayed.

The amount of skill required for the job was also an important factor for employers (Dench et al., 2006). A good example was in the construction industry where employers especially valued Polish workers who were highly motivated and could fill the gap in skills that were seen in the industry. A similar picture in relation to skills was also seen in other industries. In the Finance and Accountancy sector employers complained that they couldn't get workers with the right qualifications. As a result they had agencies who would search globally for the right candidates. Overall, though, employers understood that the reason that they recruited migrants was that the same amount of money meant more to them than it did to domestic workers.

Of course not all employers accep