The number of foreign workers in the UK jumped in the first half of this year, marking the biggest increase since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which was mainly due to a significant rise in the number of non-EU workers.
In particular, figures from the UK National Statistics Office showed that the number of foreign-born workers rose by 223,000 from January to June, up from 184,000 workers in the first quarter of the year, marking the biggest increase since the start of 2020.
“Immigration – a key driver of labor shortages during the pandemic – is showing signs of recovery,” notes James Smith, economist at ING.
The Bank of England is expected to welcome the data, as it worries that a shortage of candidates to fill jobs could push wages up too quickly and exacerbate inflationary pressures.
It is noted that from January 2021, most EU citizens who were not already working in Britain must be paid by an employer and paid a salary that does not undermine existing pay, having lost their previous almost unlimited right to work.
The changes brought about by Brexit put immigrants from the E.U. in the same position as those from the rest of the world, but this has sparked a backlash from employers who see the processes as particularly bureaucratic and a drag on finding a workforce for positions that pay less than £25,600 ($30,760) a year.
Samuel Tobbs, of Pantheon Macroeconomics, points out that immigration is likely to rise further as wage levels for work visas have not risen in line with average wages, which are 5.1% higher than before from one year.
The latest figures confirm a major shift in immigration patterns compared to pre-Brexit.
Non-E.U. workers increased by 189,000, while the number of workers from the E.U. increased by 34,000 in the past year.
Earlier government data showed that India, Nigeria and the Philippines were the countries whose nationals received the most work visas for skilled workers in the first quarter of this year.
On the contrary, more than 1 million EU workers moved to Britain between the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the June 2016 Brexit referendum, since then the number of EU-born workers has broadly stabilized at just under 2.4 million.
The number of non-EU workers employed in Britain has risen to 3.9 million from 3.1 million in the six years to June 2016.
Source: Capital
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