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How different immigrant groups perform

Economic success comes down to factors including skills, the labour landscape, employment law and even racism. Some migration is not primarily for economic reasons, such as refugees and students.

What is clear is that there is a wide disparity in performance between and within nationalities. For instance, Bangladesh-born people can be said to do really badly. But this has a lot to do with the jobs they tend to come to, and there are improvements over time.

Crucially, we can see new migrants in poorly paid jobs - indicating how demand for cheap labour plays a key role in migration economics.

Bar chart showing percentage of new immigrants earning below half UK median wage: Bangladesh 63.3%; Ex-Czechoslovakia 47.92%; Malawi 45.45%; Hong Kong 44.44%; China 38.16%.

In the table below, low earners are people earning less than Ł149.20 a week (half the UK median wage), high earners are people earning more than Ł750 a week.

Click column titles to sort table by that column.

Immigrants' economic performance

	NEW IMMIGRANTS (%)			SETTLED IMMIGRANTS (%)
Sort by: Country of birth	Employed	Low earners	High earners	Employed	Low earners	High earners
Algeria	46.48	n/a	n/a	59.96	n/a	n/a
Angola	30.07	n/a	n/a	81.17	n/a	n/a
Australia	90.57	6.76	27.03	81.92	11.98	14.37
Bangladesh	42.75	63.33	2.22	40.01	39.02	4.27
Belgium	75.81	20	16.67	76.93	n/a	n/a
Brazil	57.38	n/a	n/a	80.7	n/a	n/a
British Isles*	73.49	21.08	6.98	73.49	21.08	6.98
Bulgaria	82.58	n/a	n/a	70.63	n/a	n/a
Canada	82.76	16.9	15.49	78.12	13.25	15.89
China	35.81	38.16	3.95	58.58	n/a	n/a
Colombia	49.96	n/a	n/a	66.48	n/a	n/a
Cyprus	35.44	n/a	n/a	60.93	n/a	n/a
Denmark	65.26	n/a	n/a	86.2	n/a	n/a
Egypt	55.98	n/a	n/a	70.33	n/a	n/a
Ethiopia	32.28	n/a	n/a	64.44	n/a	n/a
Ex-Czechoslovakia	72.99	47.92	n/a	71.55	n/a	n/a
Ex-USSR	54.67	29.3	6.4	n/a	n/a	n/a
Ex-Yugoslavia	35.32	21.82	5.45	64.2	n/a	n/a
Finland	75.83	10.81	13.51	74.01	n/a	n/a
France	72.46	8	14.29	71.66	24.73	9.68
Germany	68.8	20.48	13.25	75.46	21	7.55
Ghana	63.7	17.19	3.13	69.51	15.04	5.31
Greece	49.81	17.5	7.5	72.52	n/a	n/a
Hong Kong	46.6	44.44	8.33	74.13	24.48	6.29
India	65.98	16.43	18.13	62.85	15.9	7.88
Iran	31.71	33.33	12.12	76.09	12.9	24.19
Iraq	37.98	26.32	7.89	77.71	n/a	n/a
Italy	73.42	13.27	13.27	72.06	22.56	4.51
Jamaica	54.41	29.79	0	65.21	12.84	4.28
Japan	47.06	17.39	23.91	63.15	n/a	n/a
Kenya	60.95	19.61	5.88	77.06	12.81	11.14
Korea	35.39	n/a	n/a	34.56	n/a	n/a
Lebanon	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Malawi	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	25	12.50
Malaysia	58.22	36.84	7.89	83.95	7.32	16.26
Mauritius	75.2	n/a	n/a	69.34	n/a	n/a
Netherlands	75.91	6.56	31.15	76.4	23.64	18.18
New Zealand	93.56	5.97	25.37	81.52	15.07	27.40
Nigeria	61.15	18.48	13.04	72.93	14.17	15.00
Norway	62.76	n/a	n/a	77.46	n/a	n/a
Pakistan	44.02	35.4	3.73	43.87	23.02	6.75
Philippines	85.4	12.8	0.61	77.91	15.38	1.28
Poland	70.6	23.64	1.82	66	31.71	7.32
Portugal	70.68	13.39	2.68	68.57	14	6.00
Somalia	12.17	n/a	n/a	38.02	n/a	n/a
South Africa	81.52	10.28	13.61	75.79	15.09	18.40
Spain	71.22	15.05	2.15	71.48	23.44	7.81
Sri Lanka	60.08	28.44	1.83	79.6	10	22.50
Sweden	69.55	4.55	31.82	67.88	n/a	n/a
Trinidad	n/a	7.14	7.14	n/a	15.38	0.00
Turkey	41.61	31.94	2.78	48.11	26.67	3.33
Uganda	47.03	n/a	n/a	74.94	7.6	16.66
USA	68.08	7.78	40.56	76.05	18.07	16.27
West Indies	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	14.75	0.00
Zambia	62.33	n/a	n/a	80.41	14.47	10.53
Zimbabwe	73.17	16.95	4.52	81.09	6.33	15.19

*British Isles figures: New and settled immigrant status does not apply, but figures displayed like this for easy comparison

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