IT seems impossible to talk about immigration these days without everyone getting hot under the collar.

The tabloid press constantly frighten us with tales of alien invasions, and while their tone is distinctly xenophobic there is no escaping the fact that many people are genuinely worried.

But what does immigration mean to employers and to Great Britain Ltd? Rather a lot, if official figures are to be believed.

Immigrants contributed £31.2 billion in taxes at the last count and consumed £28.8 billion in benefits and state services - a net profit to the nation of about £2.5 billion.

And it is clear that many businesses would grind to a halt without their migrant workers.

In London, for instance, they fill 70 per cent of catering posts and 47 per cent of nursing posts. One can only guess at the figures for Dorset but there is no doubt that migrant staff make a massive contribution.

It is true that the traditional position of first generation immigrants has always been at the bottom of the social heap, taking up low paying jobs in marginal sectors.

But these days many are highly skilled and occupy senior posts. Across the country, nearly one in five is educated to degree level.

There are nearly 660,000 job vacancies in Britain - 73,000 more than a year ago. Some businesses are already crippled by skill shortages and this situation will become more serious as the native population here grows older. Without immigration who will fill these posts?

Almost all immigrants are of working age. Many employers desperately need their skills and their manpower.

Instead of making it more difficult, the government should be making it easier for employers to hire them and for skilled immigrants to use their skills to the full.

The whole system needs to be better organised. There is no reason why there should not be a quota of workers from outside the EU, to enable recruitment in sectors where vacancies cannot be filled by UK or European nationals.

If it would benefit this country, why should not some of these people with specific skills be drawn from asylum seekers?

Maybe we should all make more effort to appreciate our growing immigrant workforce and make them more welcome. We need them.