Even more work for Romanians and Bulgarians

RECORD numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians are now working in Britain.

An official study has revealed that there are almost 400,000 in UK employment, nearly 10 times the number only a decade ago and up by 50,000 in the last year alone.

The Office for National Statistics says a total of 391,000 citizens of Romania and Bulgaria were employed in Britain between April and June this year, just over four years on from an EU rule change that let them take UK jobs without restriction.

Before 2014, citizens of Romania and Bulgaria faced curbs on employment in Britain, although visas were granted to work in industries such as seasonal fruit picking.

Now, immigration from the two countries shows no sign of slowing and the exodus is has been running at such a pitch that both of their home populations fell in 2016.

Overall, there were 2.27 million EU citizens working in the UK from April to June – just over 7 per cent of a total workforce of 32.38 million. The number was 186,000 down on a year earlier but still higher than the 2.23 million at the time of the June 2016 Brexit vote.

The biggest reduction was in workers from Poland and the other East European countries, down to 880,000 from more than a million in 2016.

However there were more foreign workers from outside the EU – in one year the figure has risen by 75,000 to reach 1.3 million.

Lord Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said this showed that ‘the need for the Government to get a grip on immigration grows ever stronger’.

He added: ‘Cries of woe at the departure of EU workers as a result of Brexit are clearly out of place. There are more EU nationals in our workforce now than there were just before the 2016 referendum.’

Jonathan Portes, economics professor at King’s College London, said that – Romania and Bulgaria apart – the fall in the number of EU nationals in British jobs ‘reflects Brexit uncertainty along with other factors such as the buoyant Polish economy’.