UK employers are increasingly turning to workers from the European Union (EU) accession states in a bid to meet their recruitment shortages, according to a Manpower report.The report, entitled ‘EU enlargement - two years on’, reveals that the number of UK employers taking workers from the EU accession states has nearly doubled to 12% this year, up from 7% in 2005.Manpower’s report, based on a survey of 2,191 UK firms, examines how recruitment practices have been affected by the entry of the 10 new accession states into the EU on 1 May 2004. It found that employers in the hotels and restaurants sector are the most likely to employ people from the new member states, with 28% taking on these workers in the last year.The construction, agriculture and finance and business sectors are the next most likely to recruit workers from the EU member states.The findings also reveal that these new EU workers are finding employment are increasingly likely to find work outside London. Last year London was the most popular location for EU accession workers but now only accounts for 16% of the intake. It has been overtaken by the East of England (24%) and the South-East (19%).Workers who have joined UK firms tend to stay put, the research revealed. More than a third of employers who have taken on workers from the new EU member states said that workers they recruited since 1 May 2005 are stillwith them.This figure increases to 80% in London and 73% in Wales. By contrast, only 50% of employers in the East of England are likely to still employ these people one year later. Mark Cahill, managing director at Manpower UK, believes that employers are increasingly open to recruiting workers from the EU accession states.He said: “Many employers realise that such workers can play a valuable role in helping them address their recruitment needs - in particular in the face of the UK’s persistent skills shortage.”