Is Brexit really about controlling immigration?

The latest employment statistics reveal that UK employment is at a record high of 32.8 million people in work but there are still 820,000 vacancies that need to be filled.

Currently 1.33 million people are not working. Logic would suggest, then, that there are enough people to fill the outstanding positions.

However, some questions need to be answered about the 1.33 million unemployed: amongst others, they include:

• How many of the unemployed are actually capable of working now?
• Do their skills match those required?
• Do they live in the travel to work areas of the vacancies?
• Do the lifestyles suit those jobs i.e. family friendly hours; carers; shifts etc.?

It seems that the Hospitality, Leisure, Catering and Retail, Health sectors rely very heavily on a large EU and non-EU migrant workforce. So much so that if they were removed many organisations in those sectors might close.

In addition to the above there is also an apparent severe skills shortage in many more Technical, IT, Construction and Engineering Industries.

So, can we really afford to limit a migrating workforce as is suggested?

If you would like to discuss this article in further detail, please contact our Managing Director, Brian Stahelin on 01484 351010 or at brian@stafflex.co.uk.