EU referendum results in net migration decrease

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said a decrease in net migration has been driven by a “statistically significant” increase of 40,000 people emigrating – primarily European Union citizens returning home following the Brexit vote.An estimated 117,000 EU citizens left the country last year, an increase of 31,000 on the 2015 total. Immigration from the EU8 states – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – fell by 25,000 to 48,000, while emigration increased by 16,000 to 43,000 last year.Much of the decrease is believed to stem from uncertainty following the referendum vote to leave the EU last June and the subsequent fall in the value of sterling against the euro.In total, the ONS said that immigration from the world over amounted to 588,000 last year, with the number of people leaving the country put at 339,000.

Jobs most common reason for migration

Work remained the most common reason for migration: 275,000 people came into the UK for work in 2016. Of those, 180,000 had a definite job, while the total number of arrivals looking for work – 95,000 – was down 35,000 on the 2015 figure.Although the government will welcome the decrease in the run-up to June’s general election, the net migration total is still well over double Prime Minister Theresa May’s stated target of getting the figure to below 100,000.Publication of the data coincided with research showing that migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe were more than three times less likely to be absent from work than those born in the UK.But the University of Bath research found the effect was only temporary and that, after between two and four years, migrants’ absences from work mirrored those of indigenous Britons.

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Migrant work ethic

Dr Chris Dawson, senior lecturer in Business Economics at the University of Bath, said, “This is the first study with concrete evidence on the existence of the migrant work ethic.“It backs up managers’ perceptions that Polish and other Central and Eastern European migrants are harder working than UK employees, but importantly only for around two years from their arrival in the UK.“The study shows that the common view that UK workers are lazy compared to migrant workers is misconceived; in fact, migrants are temporarily working extra hard to offset the challenges they face when they first enter the UK job market.“We clearly see in the research that migrants new to the UK put in a couple of years of hard work, before a better understanding of our culture and job market means they adopt the same work ethic as native workers.”For related news and features, visit our Brexit section.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory  Get access to our free Global Mobility Toolkit

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