The government imposed freeze on economic activity, otherwise known as lockdown, is shrinking the employment market to the extent that ...
Plunge in foreign-born workers as Covid destroys jobs
Unemployment surges to 4.8pc while redundancies soar by 181,000 in the three months to September
The number of foreign-born workers employed in the UK fell by almost 600,000 in the past year as Covid laid waste to the jobs market and sparked an exodus of migrants.
There are now 765,000 fewer people of working age born abroad in Britain than there were a year ago, with a bigger fall in those from the EU than those from the rest of the world.
... The fall in workers from the EU14 - nations such as France and Germany - in the UK is similar to the drop seen during the financial crisis.
However, a far greater share of those from the EU8, which covers more workers from Eastern European nations including Poland, have been affected.
... The UK’s reliance on foreign employees acts as a “safety valve”, said Martin Beck at Oxford Economics, sucking in workers when the economy is doing well, and shedding them again in downturns.
“It keeps the unemployment rate down - people are losing their jobs but are not adding to the unemployment rolls. It is a stabilising force for the jobs market. It is bad to lose those jobs, but the fiscal cost is not being borne by the UK taxpayer,” he said.
It means unemployment is unlikely to rise as high as 7pc by the end of the year, or to meet the gloomier predictions of 10pc or more in 2021, he said, because the fall in foreign-born workers over the past year has already reduced the workforce by as much as 2pc.
“I would expect those people to come back if things do recover quickly and get back to normal, Brexit permitting,” said Mr Beck.
Overall, firms laid off 181,000 people between July and September, pushing the total to 314,000. Experimental figures also suggested an extra 33,000 employees shed from company payrolls in October, signalling 782,000 fewer people in work compared to pre-pandemic March.
