Rise in eastern European workers
With unemployment, particularly among the young, a major problem and with the Government pushing long term disability claimants to seek work, it is no surprise that there is anger about the influx of workers from Eastern Europe. However, European law and freedom of movement of people in the EU means there is a limited amount that can be done about this kind of immigration.
Here are some headline facts :-
- Net immigration is at it’s highest level for more than 5 years
- low-skilled workers numbers have more than doubled in the last 9 years
- a 60-fold influx has occurred from 8 Eastern European countries that are the most recent to join the European Union
- The overall immigration figure last year was 242,000
- 1 in 5 low-skill jobs are taken now by individuals who were born outside the UK