Trade body calls for debate after the Home Office publishes migrant worker statistics

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has called for a debate on immigration and migrant workers following the release of Home Office figures which revealed that 447,000 workers from central and Eastern Europe have registered to work in the UK.

The REC says these workers make a vital contribution to key sectors of the economy which have been hit by skills shortages, but the challenge will be to manage the migrant labour supply effectively.

The REC’s acting chief executive Marcia Roberts says: “The decision by the Government on whether to allow Romanians and Bulgarians to work in the UK next year should be made on a basis of the labour market’s needs. Currently thousands of migrant workers are contributing to the UK’s tax base through working in the UK.

“If there are local problems surrounding the delivery of public services, these are likely to happen because the Government has not responded to the needs of a changing population,” Roberts adds.