EU jobseekers boycott the UK as Brexit draws closer
|Studies show that the UK population growth has halted after slowing down due to European jobseekers being forced to look elsewhere after Brexit. The Office For National Statistics has recorded that the population of the UK is rising at its slowest rate in over 13 years. They have pinpointed the direct cause for this as a general net fall in migration. The first official population figures released after the Brexit vote show the UK’s net population rising at the slowest it has in 13 years.
An estimate by the Office for National Statistics shows that there were 66.040.229 people that were living in the UK when the end of June 2017 came around. They then go on to prove that the population has broken through the 66 million barrier, however the rate of growth has slowed significantly. Due to this there is a general and drastic fall in the net migration of people moving to the United Kingdom for work or otherwise.
Over the past year since the first set of statistics were taken in June 2017, a grand total of 392,000 people had migrated to the UK, showing the United Kingdom’s slowest growth rate since mid-2004. In an extreme contrast to these figures, the statistics for the previous year showed the sharpest annual population rise that the UK has ever seen with a staggering 538,000 people migrating. This is the highest spike the UK has had since 1948.
The ONS or Office for National Statistics has identified Brexit as the main reason for so many people being deterred from migrating to the United Kingdom. They strongly suggest that this has only occurred since most Europeans have felt deterred from the UK since the EU referendum.
The migration statistics quarterly bulletin experts have reported that “The number of people immigrating for a definite job has remained stable, but there has been a 43% decrease in the number of people immigrating to look for work over the last year, especially for EU citizens.”
They go on to confirm suspicions: “These changes suggest that Brexit is likely to be a factor in people’s decision to move to or from the UK, but decisions to migrate are complex and other factors are also going to be influencing the figures. The reduction in the number of immigrants is the largest single driver of the lower level of population growth in the year to mid-2017.”.
There have been numerous talks since this data emerged over whether or not the UK would be hit with a shortage of experienced workers, as we all know of the recent NHS staffing crisis that has become somewhat of an epidemic in the United Kingdom. So far they have decided to aim to decrease strain on public spending and attempt to lower the tax amount for elderly people.