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Indian workers fill the gap in UK skills shortages

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Most foreign computer workers entering Britain in the past year were from India, new research showed this week.

More than eight of out 10 of the 22,000 overseas IT (information technology) workers came from India, suggesting that multinational companies were recruiting staff in low cost countries and transferring them to high cost markets, said the report.

The Association of Technology Staffing Companies said its study showed the true scale of the reliance on foreign workers to plug skills gaps.

Ann Swain, the association's chief executive, said: "The transfer of jobs between the UK and India is now very much two-way traffic. The irony is that while low-skilled IT jobs continue to be shipped to India, highly skilled Indian IT professionals are coming to the UK to take up managerial roles.

"Skills shortages continue to be a major pull factor in bringing foreign IT workers to the UK."