Number of EU workers in UK rises despite referendum

THE number of EU workers in the UK has risen by 112,000 since the referendum on leaving Europe, amid suggestions that there will be a “rush” of migrants before Brexit.

The first full set of comparative figures since the referendum revealed that there were a record 2.38million EU workers in the UK from July to September of this year.

The rise was driven by an increase in Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK, with the number of people from the two countries increasing by a third to 347,000.

Migration Watch, the immigration think tank, said the figures suggested claims that Britain will see a “Brexodus” are “alarmist and unsubstantiated”. Lord Green of Deddington, its chairman, said there could be a significant increase in numbers ahead of the “cut-off ” date for people claiming permanent residence – expected to be March 2019. He said: “Industry should stop making alarmist and unsubstantiated claims about a Brexodus.”

It is the first time that year-on-year comparisons of employment levels by nationality can be made for two full quarterly periods falling after the EU referendum.

Matt Hughes, a senior statistician at the Office for National Statistics, said: “The number of non-uk nationals in work is still rising, albeit more slowly than in the last couple of years. This is being driven by EU citizens; the number of non-eu nationals working in the UK has fallen in the last year.”

The number of employees from 14 long-term member states including Germany, Italy, Spain and France, rose from 942,000 to 987,000.