Brexit contributes to UK staff shortages |
Brexit has intensified labour shortages in the UK over the past year, according to Oxford academics and ReWage, a group of independent experts. The analysis suggests that the hospitality and lower-skilled sectors were worst hit by the end of free movement of EU citizens into the UK. The report says that while Brexit "exacerbated" chronic labour shortages in Britain, the pandemic, early retirement among the over-50s, high employment levels across Europe and international labour shortages were also contributing factors. Data show that just 43,000 EU citizens received visas for work, family, study or other purposes in 2021, far below the 230,000 to 430,000 EU citizens coming to the UK annually in the six years to March 2020, according to Office for National Statistics estimates. |
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