Skilled foreign workers boost British growth by £210bn a year

Percent of workers in managerial, professional or technical occupations by country

Almost a third of inpats from the US were working in a professional occupation, such as engineering or IT, while almost 75pc of workers were in managerial, professional or associate professional and technical jobs, which includes paramedics and lab technicians.

This compares with 34pc of Canadian and 29pc of French workers in professional jobs, while the share for UK-born citizens in a professional occupation was 17pc. The report also showed that just 40pc of UK workers are employed in one of the top three skills categories.

American workers were the most qualified, according to the report, with more than half having some university education. By comparison, just 26pc of UK-born individuals were university educated, which Lloyds Bank said was lower than the average share of inward talent from the EU.

A regional breakdown of the data showed that foreign workers were key to the London economy, with more than 40pc of all inpats working in the capital. This was followed by the South East, which accounted for 15pc of the total. The least popular place for inpats to work was the North-East, where they made up just 2pc of all workers. “In general, inward talent tends to be based in the faster growing regions of the country,” the report said.

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