The British government said Thursday that it is considering easing its visa policy in the face of labor shortages, partly due to Brexit, which has made it difficult to hire workers from the European Union.
The executive assures that he wants to guarantee that the system adopted after leaving the EU “meets the needs of the UK and works in the best interest of the economy, prioritizing the skills and talent we need”.
“This includes a review of the list of professions” with labor shortages, the government explained in a statement. This list determines which professions will have easier access to work visas.
British companies have been calling for months to relax visa policy in the UK, as hospitality, transport companies and farms suffer from severe labor shortages since Brexit and covid-19, which aggravates the ills of an economy threatened with recession.
There are more than a million unfilled jobs in the country, a figure that also reflects the fact that many Britons have left the job market since the pandemic, between long-term illnesses and early retirement, according to the Office for National Statistics ( ONS).
More than a quarter (27%) of companies with ten or more employees were experiencing labor shortages at the end of February, according to ONS data.
“This means that many will have no choice but to raise salaries to attract and retain staff.”, emphasizes Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
The government will ease rules governing the employment of foreign workers, starting with the construction sector, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The hotel and restaurant sector would not be affected at the moment, according to the newspaper.
The list of professions needing a workforce in the UK includes veterinarians, architects and artists, as well as some scientists and engineers.
The country continues to have great appeal for highly-skilled professions and the number of work visas increased considerably last year: almost 268,000 applications approved in 2022, 95% more than in 2019, before the pandemic.
Citizens of the European Economic Area and Switzerland, who now need a visa to work, accounted for 10% while Indian nationals received the largest number of long-term work visas, 36% of the total.
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
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