Now 400,000 migrants from Romania and Bulgaria in UK
MORE than 400,000 Romanian and Bulgarian citizens now live in Britain, a number almost equal to the population of Bristol.
This is the first official attempt to put a figure to the scale of movement from those countries since restrictions on the rights of their citizens to work in the UK were lifted nearly four years ago.
It suggests the number from the two countries who have arrived since the doors to jobs were opened on January 1, 2014, is higher even than the most expansive predictions.
The Office for National Statistics said there were 413,000 Romanians and Bulgarians living in Britain last year. It estimated that the population of Bristol was 454,000 last year.
The assessment, produced from large-scale surveys, follows employment estimates which say the number of people born in Romania and Bulgaria who were in work in Britain rose from 146,000 in the first months of 2014 to 362,000 this summer.
The increase in immigration from the two countries comes despite the confidence of many commentators in 2014 that there would be no largescale immigration after the lifting of work restrictions.
At the start of January 2014, Romanian ambassador Dr Ion Jinga said the number of Romanians coming to Britain would be ‘fewer than in the previous years’.
But the scale of migration from the countries – which joined the EU in 2007 and began to benefit from Brussels’ freedom of movement rules seven years later – has been such that home populations have been falling.
The ONS report said that of the 413,000 Romanians and Bulgarians living in Britain, nearly four in five are Roma-
‘Overeducated for jobs they do’
nian. Similar proportions are of working age and in work.
Just over 32,000 people from the two countries are ‘economically inactive’ because they are retired or at home looking after children, some 12,600 are students, and only 11,500 are unemployed. Nearly half of the Romanian and Bulgarian citizens in Britain work in either the construction industry or in hotels, restaurants and transport trades, the report said.
Six out of ten are employed in low or semi-skilled jobs – but many have qualifications far above the level of the work they are doing.
Eighteen per cent of Bulgarians in employment in the UK work in banking and finance, while 14 per cent of Romanians are also in the industry.
The ONS said: ‘Analysis has shown that 37 per cent of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens are overeducated for the job they are working in.’
More than six out of ten Romanians and Bulgarians work for more than 40 hours a week – almost double the proportion of British citizens who work longer than a traditional working week.
The ONS also found that Romanian and Bulgarian workers are typically paid less. It said average UK earnings are £11.30 an hour but Romanian and Bulgarian citizens in the UK average £8.33.
The ONS prepared the report ‘in response to an increased need for data about the people who may be most likely to be affected by the decision to leave the EU’.
According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics arm, Romania’s population fell from 19,760,000 to 19,638,000 during 2016. Bulgaria’s population dropped over the same year from 7,154,000 to 7,102,000.