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Fewer new EU workers register
Fewer new EU workers register
The number of east and central European migrants coming to work in the UK dipped last year for the first time since their countries joined the European Union in 2004, according to Home Office figures.
Almost 207,000 migrants from the eight accession countries (A8) registered to work last year – 9 per cent fewer than in 2006.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said employers could no longer “take for granted the availability of a steady supply of willing and eager workers from Poland and other less developed EU states”.
The inflow during the final quarter of last year was the lowest since the first quarter of 2005, when “the UK jobs market provided a powerful magnet, particularly for Polish workers”, it said.
A total of 796,000 workers from the A8 countries, two-thirds of them from Poland, have registered to work in the UK since 2004 – far more than the government had expected. But official figures do not reveal how many have returned home after working only a short while.
The Polish embassy has been warning since last summer that the number of Poles returning is close to equalling the numbers arriving. The number of Poles registering for work last year fell by 9 per cent to 162,495.
John Philpott, CIPD chief economist, said: “The irony is that this is becoming apparent just as the government is about to introduce its new point-based system for managing migration from outside the EU, which will make it harder for employers to hire migrants for the kinds of routine less-skilled jobs that the vast majority of A8 migrants have in recent years been happy to do.”
Ministers worried about a potential backlash against migrants taking British jobs have announced plans to make it harder for unskilled non-EU citizens to get work in the UK. They have also blocked free access to UK jobs for workers from Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the EU last year.
David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the UK economy had received a huge boost from east European migrants. “Until the government gets to grips with this country’s severe skills shortage and increasing welfare dependency culture, businesses will continue to employ migrant workers in large numbers.’’
Source: The Financial Times Limited, Andrew Taylor, Employment Correspondent
27/02/2008
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