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Employ refugees to solve Scotland’s skill shortages

This news post is over 6 years old
 

Untapped labour force could be the solution Scotland needs

Scotland’s chronic skills shortages could be solved by refugees, it has been claimed.

Sabir Zazai, the new chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC), says that businesses should take advantage of the fresh pool of talent among migrants.

Zazai, a former asylum seeker, will tell business leaders that improving employability is the key to securing community cohesion.

Zazai, whom TFN interviewed last month, plans to promote their cause to business leaders.

He said: “I’ll be personally reaching out to businesses, Scottish Power, KPMG, Arnold Clark, Starbucks and many others.

“When I arrived in the UK from Afghanistan the community welcomed me and invested in me. I will always be grateful for that. I volunteered and then worked and now I’m here today as the chief executive of the SRC. I’m not special or unique in any way and I know that every one of the people arriving here has got something to offer, if they are given a chance.”

He added: “I want to send out the message that these people are not a burden, quite the opposite.”

New arrivals from Syria and elsewhere include engineers, doctors, accountants, architects, translators and IT professionals.

Zazai took up his SRC role at the beginning of September after working with refugee organisations in Coventry to where he was dispersed when he arrived in Britain in 1999. He also plans to make English lessons and additional support for refugees a priority.

He said: “People need to be able to speak the language so they can engage with the local community, make a contribution and avoid isolation. We don’t want them to be a parallel community.”

Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “There are sectors in the Scottish economy, for example digital and engineering, which have a worrying skills shortage that needs to be quickly addressed.

“We see no downside in this idea, and ask members to consider the benefits of engaging with refugees who were skilled professionals in their home countries.”

 

Comments

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Angus McKay
over 6 years ago
"Employ refugees to solve Scotland’s skill shortages"Scotland currently has our own unemployed skilled and not so skilled people to fill our jobs - problem being, Scotland doesn’t have enough jobs. Currently and years past we have thousands of young and not so young Scots attending colleges doing media courses to qualify as graphic designers and such. There are virtually no vacancies for graphic designers - the market is full and as software develops, jobs disappear. Our own highly experienced digital graphic designers should be able to fill the supposed shortage in the digital market … and … they can speak our language, are our culture and have a checkable background … so why the need to employ refugees?Sabir Zazai, former asylum seeker and the new chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC), says that businesses should take advantage of the fresh pool of talent among migrants. Problem with that suggestion, the refugees have to find their jobs. Not very easy in a country where they do not speak the language, are strangers to our culture, are incapable of doing most of the work required and have a character and work record which cannot be checked. Why would any responsible potential employ someone whose background cannot be checked?Refugees in most cases do not have the qualifications to be employed and for those few who do, their "qualifications" are not up to UK standard - that be part reason they opted for the asylum route rather than applying for a work visa. For those who do find some kind of employment their low earnings will usually have to be topped up with benefits. Also, currently in Scotland, mostly Glasgow, there are thousands of EU migrants who arrived here under Freedom of Movement, purpose being to take up employment - thousands are unemployed, can’t find work living off benefits, refugees and asylum seekers turned into the work system will merely add to the unemployed and continue to live off benefits.Mr Sabir Zazai said: “I want to send out the message that these people are not a burden, quite the opposite.” I want to send out the message, quite the opposite, that these people are a burden. Mr Zazai, you have taken a vacancy which could have been filled by one of our own.
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Angus McKay
over 6 years ago
Could I make a suggestion? Could someone please arrange for comments to appear in publication in paragraphs as posted rather than a continuous block which makes for poor reading. Also, a facility to "edit" would be helpful.
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