Copyright © 2021 TutorsIndia. All rights reserved 1

Impact of Brexit on Migrant Workers in the

UK

Dr. Nancy Agnes, Head, Technical Operations, Tutorsindia info@ tutorsindia.com

Keywords: Migrant workers uk, Temporary

labours, research paper on migrant workers,

migrant construction workers thesis help,

dissertation on the migrant workers

I. INTRODUCTION

The raging deliberations with regards to

the membership of the UK to the European Union

(EU), a major campaign revolving around Brexit

was that it would provide the UK with increased

control over the number of immigrants who enter

the UK from various member states from the EU.

Many local individuals have voiced an

apprehension that greater immigration levels would

have made a negative impact on their jobs, quality

of life and wages [1]. For the past two decades, a

tremendous growth in immigration was observed

and a substantial part of this growth has been from

other EU nations. This is particularly true post

2004 and the accession of eight East European

nations (the A8). In the period ranging between

1995 and 2015, total immigrants belonging to other

member states from the EU living within the UK

had witnessed a triple growth from 0.9 million to

3.3 million [2]. The share EU nationals grew from

1.5% to 5.3% of the overall total population and

from 1.8% to 6.3% of the working age populace [2]

(adults falling in the age group of 16-64). The

national overall income on the whole has

experienced a growth owing to higher immigration

(increase in number of workers would increase the

GDP) and has been an advantage for immigrants

who have moved to the UK as they are

comparatively better off in the UK as compared to

the states they belonged. But it needs to

investigated whether this trend has been

economically detrimental to natural born citizens of

the UK? Also, a necessity has been felt to

understand the ramifications of Brexit on migrant

workers in the UK.

[Interesting? Looking to write research paper on

the Migrant Workers.Mail us

info@tutorsindia.com]

Figure 1: Overall Immigration to the UK from

EU and Non-EU States

Source: Office for National Statistics [3]

II. IMPACT OF BREXIT ON MIGRANT

LABOUR IN THE UK

Migrant workers UK both from EU and

non-EU nations abound in the UK and they prove

to be quite significant for several industry sectors.

However, there have been concerns that Brexit

could curb the flow of migrant workers into the UK

[4]. Reduction in the labour market could result in

an undue hike in labour costs, in terms of

recruitment as well as wages, and prices which

Copyright © 2021 TutorsIndia. All rights reserved 2

could then be transferred to the end user while

having the potential for lowering profit margins or

sales volumes [4]. Modifications within the labour

market in the UK have been observed as per the

employment figures which indicated that

unemployment within the UK has been at a very

low rate since past 42 years (4.2% as on 15th

May,

2018) [5]. The rate of employment for people from

the EU was at its peak, but it was forecasted to drop

owing to Brexit and a clear indication of this trend

could already be witnessed when the workforce

from EU within the UK fell by 28,000 over a

period of the past 12 months [5]. This drop in the

number of migrants from the EU owing to higher

rates of employment and the number of EU

migrants going back to their home states tends to

pose a major challenge over a short-term as well as

long-term period for organizations within the UK,

as far as their human resource management

practices are concerned [6]. Challenges in the

short-term for organizations could emerge owing to

uncertainty of the possible conditions of

employment which could be enforced across EU

workers working in the UK, and the consequent

challenges of having the capability to satiate

manpower requirements in future with duly skilled

and qualified personnel [7]. To tackle these

challenges, it would need human resource

managers to evaluate existing as well as future

strategies for talent management.

[Analytics of Data on the migrant EU

Workers made you crazy?

Get migrant construction

workers thesis help from Subject Matter

Expertise]

III. CONCLUSION

The impact that Brexit would have

on the EU labour force within the UK

would present challenges that might be

beyond the control of organizations,

however organizations are in a position to

tackle such challenges by initiating certain

actions. This would involve a reassessment

of their strategies for talent management. It

would also include evaluating the

influence of more limiting policies of

immigration on their existing workforce

and the manner in which these can be

tackled by seeking alternative strategies

for recruitment within diverse markets.

The focus of talent management would

also be on the necessary roles within

organizations and from the context of

Brexit, it would become necessary to

include what the necessary roles might be

and the manner in which an organization

would be able to develop other employees

to take-up such roles. Considering the

possible modifications within the macro-

environment, the talent management of an

organization would only need to evaluate

these, but also evaluate how its internal

context could satiate such challenges with

a view to sustain success. This would

require the organization to initiate a

scenario planning in order to make sure

that the response undertaken is highly

appropriate and proactive.

Copyright © 2021 TutorsIndia. All rights reserved 3

REFERENCES

[1] J. Wadsworth, S. Dhingra, G. Ottaviano, and J.

Van Reenen, “Brexit and the Impact of

Immigration on the UK,” CEP Brexit Anal., vol.

5, pp. 34–53, 2016, [Online]. Available:

http://library.kiet.re.kr/_MultiData/krms/00040/

427/BREXIT 2016.pdf#page=50.

[2] United Nations, “International Migration 2019,”

2019. [Online]. Available:

https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/popula

tion/migration/publications/migrationreport/doc

s/InternationalMigration2019_Report.pdf.

[3] Office for National Statistics, “Migration

Statistics Quarterly Report: February 2016,”

2016.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandco

mmunity/populationandmigration/international

migration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyr

eport/february2016#net-migration-to-the-uk.

[4] Norton Rose Fulbright, “Immigration after

Brexit The new points-based system,” 2020.

https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en/knowle

dge/publications/2fd4c32b/immigration-after-

brexit.

[5] The Guardian, “UK real wages rise, but drop in

EU workers could hurt NHS – as it happened,”

2018.

[6] PWC, “Brexit – A key role for HR People and

organisation issues to consider following the EU

referendum,” 2016. https://www.pwc.co.uk/eu-

referendum/po-summary-of-brexit-and-hr-

related-issues-september-2016.pdf.

[7] BBC, “Brexit: What you need to know about the

UK leaving the EU,” 2020.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-

32810887.