(LONDON) – A new report on the impact of Brexit on UK migration shows that job sectors where EU workers are most needed are seeing the biggest immediate dip in interest following the leave vote in June.
The report by GK Investor Services – “Farewell to Free Movement? Immigration and Workforce after Brexit” – finds that Polish workers’ interest in jobs across the health and social care sectors is down 17 per cent.
In Poland there are more health and social care jobs being advertised than any other sector, yet interest in these jobs is falling, down 17% since June 2016. Polish employee demand for jobs for couples in the UK decreased by 52%.
“When we look at the immediate impact of the leave vote on workforce issues we see the areas where demand by employers is highest are the ones experiencing a negative impact in terms of prospective employees’ interest in coming to the UK”, says Fleur Hicks, MD of OneFourZero: “We expect the uncertainty of the current situation to put off families and couples, but the impact this will have on specific sectors is perhaps being underestimated.”
Interest in male-dominated employment sectors continues to rise, for example in Poland a 22% increase in interest in construction jobs can be seen.
In contrast interest in employment sectors that tend to attract couples and families are experiencing a decline.
Few will be surprised to learn that, following the Brexit vote, 19% of Polish ex-pats have expressed an intent to leave, or have discussed leaving the UK.
Regarding international intent to move to the UK, only 3 of the top 10 countries are EU Member States (Ireland, Spain and Germany). It is however, particularly high in Ireland, followed by Canada and Nigeria.
In Bulgaria, Poland and Romania the number of workers intending to move to the UK to work has decreased over the last 12 months by 32%, 20% and 30% respectively.
The report, “Farewell to Free Movement? Immigration and Workforce after Brexit”, was created by GK Investor Services, which provides political due diligence to the Private Equity community and 140, digital data and commercial analytics specialists.
The digital research looked at volumes of online searches within different sectors and countries, and the opinions and intent indicators of people investigating a move to the UK.