EU workers in Britain hit a record high
As our miracle jobs boom shows no sign of slowing...
‘Creating opportunities’
A RECORD number of European Union nationals are working in Britain as the country’s jobs miracle continues.
Nearly 2.4million people from the Continent were employed here in the first three months of 2019 – up by 107,000 on the previous quarter.
It more than reverses a drop in numbers which began in late 2017.
At the time, this was widely taken as a sign that foreigners from the Continent were leaving due to Brexit.
The Office for National Statistics data undermines claims that the prospect of Brexit has driven EU workers away and threatens future labour shortages.
Gerwyn Davies, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: ‘With next year’s deadline looming to secure settled status in the UK, some professionals in other parts of the EU may have concluded that it is now or never.
‘It is also possible that employers have made more pro-active efforts to recruit from overseas in response to the tightening labour market.’
The number of EU nationals working in Britain peaked at 2,363,000 in the third quarter of 2017.
It then fell by 132,000 over the following year in what was dubbed the ‘ Brexodus’ by Remainers who claimed that workers were abandoning the country. However, this figure has since recovered to a new record high of 2,381,000.
On youth unemployment, 467,000 under-25s were out of work and looking for a job – down from 1.1million in 2011, and the joint-lowest figure ever recorded. The unemployment rate for this age group dropped to 10.8 per cent, a record low.
By contrast, youth unemployment stands at 16.9 per cent in the eurozone and is as high as 39.9 per cent in Greece.
Overall, a record 32.7million people were in work during the first quarter of 2019. The total unemployment rate is 3.8 per cent – the lowest since 1974 when Prime Minister Harold Wilson was in power.
Meanwhile, the average wage rose to £27,456 a year, up 3.2 per cent on a year earlier.
This means earnings are climbing faster than inflation, which stands at 1.9 per cent – meaning families’ pay packets stretch further each month. And more people are switching jobs, with over one in ten people jumping ship in the past year. This is up from one in 20 in 2009-10 as the financial crisis raged.
Conservative MP Alok Sharma, the minister for employment said: ‘Rising wages and booming higher-skilled employment mean better prospects for thousands of families and, with youth unemployment halving since 2010, we are creating opportunities for all generations.’
The surge in employment has been partly driven by a steady rise in the number of older women working. The female state pension age has been rising from 60 to 66 so many cannot afford to quit their jobs. A record 4.9million women over 50 are now working – up 3.3 per cent on a year earlier.
And in the last five years, the number of retired women under 65 has dropped by 239,000 to 625,000. Meanwhile, a long-running decline in the number of stay-at-home mothers is continuing. Just 1.8million women aged under 65 are not working. This has fallen by 255,000 in the past five years and is down by more than 1.1m since records began in 1993.
Economists said the figures show the labour market remains robust despite political turmoil over Brexit. Stephen Clarke, from the Resolution Foundation think-tank, said: ‘Britain’s jobs market continues to defy wider economic uncertainty.’
But productivity was one weak spot. Workers’ output per hour fell 0.2 per cent, declining for the third quarter in a row.
This is likely to hold back wage growth in the longer term as a more productive workforce creates more wealth for firms.
Tom Stevenson, of investment company Fidelity International, said: ‘The murky outlook is leading businesses to hire now with the option to fire later rather than make irreversible investments in new kit.’
BY any reasonable standard, the new employment figures are remarkable.
Indeed, they are a glowing testament to hard-working British people for keeping the country going while government, paralysed by Brexit, has ground to a halt.
And while it’s usually unwise to tempt fate, let’s take a moment to marvel at the astonishing numbers. Employment stands at a record 32.7million. Joblessness has tumbled to just 3.8 per cent – its lowest since 1974, when the dead grip of union power kept people in posts that were no longer needed.
Youth unemployment is at an all-time low. And wages are rising – leaving more money in people’s pockets.
Eu chiefs might snigger like schoolchildren at our Brexit afflictions. But they’re green with envy that our continuing jobs miracle shames the struggling eurozone.
Imagine what could be achieved if our wretched political elite got its act together and agreed theresa May’s deal.
Naturally, Marxist throwback John McDonnell bemoans the Government’s economic ‘ mismanagement’. But blueprint is the socialist utopia of Venezuela, a bankrupt basket-case where unemployment approaches 50 per cent and impoverished citizens stay alive by drinking sewer water.
In normal times, the tories would head into the European elections trumpeting their successes, extolling free market virtues to those fortunate enough not to remember a ruinous hard-Left Labour government.
unfortunately, they are hamstrung by the failure to deliver Brexit – despite an explicit instruction by the electorate. the Prime Minister, wounded but determined, is pressing on with her deal – but again there is talk that the 1922 Committee of senior tories may tomorrow demand her departure date. the party is wracked by infighting and navel-gazing.
Barring a supernatural twist, annihilation awaits at the ballot box when furious voters choose Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.
Fortunately, Labour – led by terror-sympathising Jeremy Corbyn who faces both ways on Brexit – will also be punished. It’s a small crumb of comfort. But at least it’s a crumb.