The UK needs to attract more highly skilled international workers, according to a new report.

The Work Foundation report found that knowledge industries have grown by 24% between 1995 and 2004, compared to total growth in employment of only 1.1%. This indicates increasing competition for knowledge workers, especially in IT, science and technology related sectors.

The number of world migrants has increased by about 2.5% between 1975 and 2005 (there were estimated to be about 190m international migrants in 2005).         

The UK employs the third largest number of migrants with professional and technical skills (715,000).

Indian nationals are by far the largest group of highly skilled migrant workers in the UK. In 2005, 45,000 came from India, 25,000 from the US, 10,000 from the Philippines, 8,000 from South Africa and 6,500 from Australia, according to official records.

Katerina Rüdiger, author of the report, said: “Global firms need more global people – not just to fill shortages, but for the sake of enabling firms to innovate. The UK’s best bet for making the most of globalisation is to tap the increasing flows of highly qualified people around the world. In an increasingly globalised world, international experience, combined with language skills and an outlook shaped by learning from other places, is increasingly important.”