UK faces labour shortage as weak pound sparks EU worker exodus - BoE
EU workers are quitting the UK as the Brexit-induced weakness of sterling erodes the value of earnings they send abroad, adding to Britain's existing labour-shortage concerns, the Bank of England warned.
Last year, the UK controversially voted for a divorce from the EU, which saw sterling's value immediately plunge and earnings-squeezing inflation beginning a corresponding march higher.
In its first-quarter agents' summary of business conditions, BoE said some EU workers were departing the UK because the fall in sterling had reduced the value of their repatriated earnings.
"There was little evidence of EU migrant workers leaving the United Kingdom due to its plans to leave the EU," said the central bank, falling short of linking sterling's demise to Brexit.
Figures out last month revealed net migration to the UK had fallen to 273,000 in the year to September, Office for National Statistics data revealed.
This was the first time net migration had fallen below 300,000 in two years, but remained well short of the government's target of 100,000.
That ONS data estimated 268,000 EU citizens had arrived during the period, while 103,000 had departed.
Other ONS figures -- for the quarter to 31 December 2016 -- showed the number of EU-born workers in the UK had declined by 50,000 to 2.3m.
Taken as whole these numbers could be interpreted as a sign of EU-born workers increasingly sweating their post-Brexit futures in the UK, and opting to leave for greener economic pastures in the euro zone.
Meantime, Prime Minister Theresa May is scheduled to activate Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty next week, starting up to two years of separation talks with the EU.
BoE sees 'shrinking pool' of workers
Demonstrating the UK's reliance on overseas workers, high-street sandwiches and coffee chain Pret a Manger recently said it received just one job application from a British person in every 50 received.
Separately, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said last month that skills shortages were "starting to bite" in sectors that employed a high ratio of EU nationals.
CIPD further warned of hiring challenges, more so if UK shifted its immigration policies after quitting the EU.
These factors were also borne out in the BoE report, which said recruitment difficulties had increased and were now moderately above normal.
"Shortages of skilled and experienced staff had risen," the report stated. "That reflected slightly increased labour demand. Contacts in construction, engineering, distribution, IT, healthcare and catering most often reported hiring difficulties.
"There were more reports of difficulties recruiting new EU migrant workers, due to a shrinking pool of candidates", it said.