In whose interests? IT migration in an interconnected world economy

The paper focuses on the interaction between the national management of labour migration flows and the sourcing strategies used by transnational corporations in the IT sector which operate in an increasingly liberalised world economy. Through examination of employer-sponsored immigration among IT professionals to the UK, it draws attention to the need for migration policy to balance the conflicting interests of employers and resident labour. It combines statistical evidence, largely derived from the UK work permit system, with in-depth interviews among senior human resource executives. Its main conclusion is that the UK's broad-brush approach to managed migration is out of touch with the international sourcing policies of firms in the IT sector and has been weak in defending the competitive position of the resident workforce. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.