(BBC) - Employment levels, wages and benefits vary widely between different groups of migrants in the UK, analysis suggests. Research by MigrationWatch, which campaigns for tighter immigration controls, looked at employment status, wages and benefits claims.
Migrants from the US, Australia and South Africa were found to earn much more than the UK-born population.
By contrast, people from Pakistan and Bangladesh tended to earn much less, the research suggested.
The study used data from the official Labour Force Survey of 100,000 people.
It suggests:
?Migrants from Western Europe, India, South Africa and the "Anglosphere" countries - the US, Australia, New Zealand - have high rates of employment at good wages and low rates of benefit claims
?Migrants from Africa, apart from South Africa, have overall employment rates and wages on a par with those born in the UK, but much higher rates of benefit claims
?Migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh have lower rates of employment combined with lower wages and higher rates of benefit claims
?Migrants from Eastern European countries, including Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, have high rates of employment but lower wages and higher rates of benefit claims than those born in the UK
Crowds on London's Oxford Street
It also suggests that more migrants than UK-born people claim housing benefit, tax credits and child benefit.
However, claims for Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance differ little between migrants and UK-born people.
Migrant claims were noticeably lower for sickness and disability benefits and carers' allowances, the study suggests.
MigrationWatch chairman, Lord Green of Deddington, said the analysis showed that claims that all immigration to the UK was beneficial could not possibly be right.
He said any sensible policy should take account of the real differences in economic characteristics between migrants from different parts of the world.
"If immigration policy has been intended to attract only 'the brightest and the best' it has clearly failed, with a very large number of migrants earning less or claiming more than the British-born," he added.
"The clear message of this research is that immigration can be reduced substantially while permitting entry to those migrants that our economy really needs."
The BBC is awaiting a comment from the government.
Right job
Don Flynn, director of charity Migrants Rights Network, said the analysis appeared to be spun to suggest that migrants were more likely to receive benefits than UK-born people, and some migrants were poor performers.
But, he said, the overall position remained that migrants performed better than their cost to the taxpayer, and there was nothing in the study to challenge that.
He added that the government should focus on making sure often highly qualified migrants were employed in the right level of job, which would also mean they would not need in-work benefits.
Last year, net migration rose by 50% to 318,000, the highest level for a decade - with sharp increases from inside and outside the EU.
In May, the prime minister insisted he would not give up on his target to reduce net migration to below 100,000.
