More than a fifth of employers are planning to recruit migrant workers in Q1, according to research from a survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)/KPMG labour market survey.

The survey also shows around two-thirds (63%) of UK employers report that non-EU workers have allowed them to increase productivity, while 43% report they are struggling to fill vacancies from within the UK/EU, 23% say they are recruiting non-EU migrant workers for engineering vacancies, 15% for IT positions and 7% for both nursing and accountancy/finance positions.

However, one in six (17%) UK employers have been prevented from recruiting non-EU migrant workers due to the temporary cap on non-EU workers that is due to end in April 2011 and be replaced with a permanent cap.

Gerwyn Davies, CIPD public policy adviser, says: “The introduction of the temporary cap has had an impact on employers’ ability to fill vacancies and improve productivity, particularly in the NHS. It remains questionable whether the increase in the number of employer-related visas issued by the government for the next year will be enough to address the projected increase in the demand for migrant workers.

“We should not forget that the UK still has skills shortages in many key areas, nor should we forget that the number of non-EU workers amounts to the tens of thousands rather than the hundreds of thousands. So while it is right to highlight our concern about rising unemployment, we should not overlook the benefits and invaluable expertise and experience that a relatively small number of non-EU workers bring to the UK economy. Keeping out skilled non-EU workers won’t help unemployed people in the UK in the near term, but could have real and negative consequences for business and the public sector.”