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Comment by t0mas88 | Hacker News Reader

> issue temporary visas to 5,000 foreign heavy goods vehicle drivers

Why on earth would these foreign drivers that could easily work on a permanent basis in Europe come to the UK on a temporary visum? Or are they now also going to pay them a lot more than other places? I'm which case... Kind of ironic that this whole brexit thing was started over keeping immigrants out, not about begging them to please come and save you for a lot more money?

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There is talk about 50k salaries, which is in programmer salary territory.

I’m skeptical. The drivers at Booker (Budgens), a Tesco subsidiary, were offered a 2% raise, which in light of 4% inflation is a pay cut. That suggests some HGV employers are not feeling the pressure:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/sep/06/lorry-drive...

I vaguely rememberering that there are half a million people in the UK with HGV licenses. But only half of them are working as drivers. So it really isn't likely to be a supply problem. It seems to me that the demand is simply not consistent enough to generate the required supply.

Or to put it another way, the market is working as markets do.

If people really want HGV drivers then they will have to offer more, and not just money but better working conditions and more secure employment.

The problem is that, it's for a few months only. So it's more like 17K opportunity before tax. Who exactly will leave current job that pays, let's say 25K/year, to make one-off 17K? People who make that amount of money can't really afford having a sabbatical.

I think the idea is to attract back foreign drivers, for example from Eastern Europe who left because of Brexit/Pandemic

Yes but Eastern Europeans also don’t do this as a hobby, they all have regular jobs. Why would they leave a regular job for one-off short term opportunity? The money is better, sure, but not good enough to account for the extra trouble and potential underemployment once the visa expires.

It used to make sense for Eastern Europeans to seek a better career in the UK but a 3 months is not a career.

That’s more than a lot of UK developers.

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