Articles

Immigration Restrictions Could Lead to Lack of Staff

10/10/2016

A new report warns that the future of some businesses is at risk if the government goes ahead with its plan to curb immigration.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) discovered that hiring has risen in September after the initial shock of the Brexit vote. However, it found that there was more demand than supply for staff, leading to inevitable shortages.

The care industry is now facing a bleak outlook as there are simply not enough qualified workers with experience if the government goes ahead with a ‘hard Brexit’ and limits immigration.

The REC policy director, Tom Hadley has advised the government to be very careful with immigration policies with how the economy and services could be affected by staff shortages.

“Despite some of the rhetoric at this week’s Conservative Party conference, we will continue to need workers from overseas in a range of sectors from engineering to healthcare.” 

“The business community must have a role in developing an immigration model that strikes the right balance,” he told the Guardian.

The report comes after NHS leaders also warned that the service simply ‘would not cope’ if recruitment of foreign workers is halted.

Nevertheless, businesses appear to be coping well in the aftermath of the Brexit after the initial shock.

“It is now clear that business confidence took a short-term stumble in the wake of the EU vote instead of a long-term fall,” said Scott Corfe, director at the CEBR.

“However, it should be noted that this research was carried out before the Conservative party conference and all the talk of ‘hard Brexit’ implying that the UK would prioritise immigration restrictions over access to the European single market. Once the shape of our economic relationship with the EU becomes clearer, these figures could shift notably.”