Pakistani Diaspora in The United Kingdom - Economics

Economics

Location has had a great impact on the success of British Pakistanis. The existence of a North-South divide leaves those in the north of England economically depressed, although there is a small concentration of more highly educated Pakistanis living in the suburbs of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, as some Pakistani immigrants have taken advantage of the trading opportunities and entrepreneurial environment which exist in major UK cities. But material deprivation and under-performing schools of the inner city have impeded social mobility for the majority of Kashmiris. British Pakistanis based in large cities have found making the transition into the professional middle class easier than those based in peripheral towns. This is due to the fact that cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow and Oxford have provided a more economically encouraging environment than the small towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Most of the initial funds for entrepreneurial activities were historically collected by workers in food processing and clothing factories. The funds were often given a boost by wives saving "pin money" and interest-free loans which were exchanged between fellow migrants. By the 1980s, British Pakistanis began dominating the ethnic and halal food businesses, Indian restaurants, Asian fabric shops, and travel agencies. Other Pakistanis secured ownership of textile manufacturing or wholesale businesses and took advantage of cheap family labour. The once multi-million pound company Joe Bloggs has such an origin. Clothing imports from Southeast Asia began to affect the financial success of these mill-owning Pakistanis in the 1990s. However, some Pakistani families based in the major cities managed to buck this trend by selling or renting out units in their former factories.

In the housing rental market, Pakistani landlords first rented out rooms to incoming migrants, who were mostly Pakistani themselves. As these renters settled in Britain and prospered to the point where they could afford to buy their own homes, non-Asian university students became the main potential customers to these landlords. By 2000, several British Pakistanis had established low-cost rental properties throughout England. Aneel Mussarat is an example of a property millionaire. His company, MCR Property Group, specialises in renting apartments to university students in Manchester and Liverpool.

British Pakistanis are most likely to live in owner-occupied Victorian terraced houses of the inner city. In the increasing suburban movement amongst Pakistanis living in Britain, this trend is most conspicuous among children of Pakistani immigrants. Pakistanis tend to place a strong emphasis on owning their own home and have one of the highest rates of home ownership in the UK at 73 per cent, slightly higher than that of the white British population.

Many first generation British Pakistanis have invested in second homes or holiday homes in Pakistan. They have purchased houses next to their villages and sometimes even in more expensive cities, such as Islamabad and Lahore. Upon reaching the retirement age, a small number hand over their houses in Britain to their offspring and settle in their second homes in Pakistan. This relocation multiplies the value of their British state pensions. Investing savings in Pakistan has limited the funding available for investing in their UK businesses. In comparison, other migrant groups, such as Indian refugees from East Africa, have benefited from investing only in Britain.