EEDA: Corporate Blog The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) is the driving force behind sustainable economic growth and regeneration in the East of England. This is our corporate weblog, where you will find comment, opinion and thoughts from our leaders and individuals within the organisation. 

Last week saw the publication of yet another report proving that migrant workers are "neither keeping people out of jobs nor slowing down wage growth". There is now a weight of evidence demonstrating the positive economic contribution that migrants make to the UK, or to specific regions within it. So why is it that the perception of migration remains so negative?

Migration undoubtedly brings with it a number of challenges, and there is no denying that it can create increased pressure on public services. There are issues that need to be addressed, and our national conference in 2007 focused on ways to enhance coordination between services to manage the challenges of migration with limited public funds (download the transcripts here). But these rational concerns too often become the justifications for an emotive hostility towards those who are different from us. Despite the modern context, it is the same historical mistrust that has been shown to every wave of migrants who have enriched our nation's economy and culture.

For the sake of our economy, those attitudes need to change. Employers must be able to harness the potential of skilled migrants without fear of negative publicity. And despite recent projections of ever increasing numbers of migrants, we will have to work harder to attract migrant workers to this country as the economies of Eastern Europe grow and there are higher skilled jobs to keep people there.

We must start telling the positive stories at least as loudly as those who spread the negative stories. So if you're an employer and have a good story to tell, we want to hear about it.