EU enlargement has not caused influx of staff

One
month after the expansion of the European Union to include the 10 new accession
countries, there has been no significant influx of workers to the UK, according
to a new report.

However,
the study, released today by recruitment specialist Manpower, shows that
workers who have sought employment in the UK are starting to bring in the right
skills to address current shortages.

The
report, compiled from an analysis of data from the Manpower UK branch network
of 300 offices, shows that more than half the branches reported an increase of
less than 10 jobseekers from the new member states, while a further 20 per cent
reported between 10-20 new jobseekers.

Separate
research conducted for Manpower by NOP shows that 21 per cent of UK companies
are experiencing skills shortages in a variety of areas. At the same time, the
research shows that nearly a quarter of companies believe that using workers
from new accession countries could help plug this gap.

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Ruth
Hounslow, head of public affairs at Manpower, said:  “Employers need to be flexible to consider a wide range of people
for those ‘hard to fill’ roles, be they unemployed people, women returning to
work, those with disabilities, older workers or those from the new EU accession
countries."

By Mike Berry