Revised Shortage Occupation List

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has advised that the Shortage Occupation List be revised to restrict migrants from outside the European Economic Area to a smaller proportion of occupations within the UK labour market.

The MAC recommends the list be reduced to cover 190,000 employees [not migrants] or well under 1% of the UK workforce. In 2008, before the MAC recommended changes to it, that list covered over one million employees.

The occupations in the list are the only positions open to migrants from outside the European Economic Area under the shortage occupation route of Tier 2 of the of Points Based System, and Tier 2 is subject to an annual limit of 20,700.

The latest MAC recommended list provides a more detailed breakdown of the sectors of the labour market affected by shortage. This has enabled the MAC to identify individual job titles rather than broader occupations.

The government will now consider the MAC's recommendations and respond in due course.