UK Edition
Number of Eastern European migrants working in the UK surges since EU referendum
The number of Eastern Europeans working in the UK has surged since the EU referendum vote amid concerns that migrants will be barred from entering after Brexit.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number of migrants born in Eastern Europe employed in Britain rose by 49,000 between July and September to 1,077,000.
The figures show that the overall number of people born overseas working in the UK increased by 430,000 to 5.55m in the past year. The number of UK-born people working in Britain increased by 36,000 in the same period, meaning that people born outside the UK accounted for more than nine in ten of the new workers.
Over the same period, the number of UK nationals in work - which includes many people born outside the UK - rose by 213,000 to 28.3 million, pushing the unemployment rate to a 10-year low despite “project fear” warnings that a vote to leave the EU would cost jobs.
However, the number of working migrants born in Western Europe fell for the first time in two years, from 992,000 to 962,000.
The increase in the number of foreign workers employed in the UK since the vote to leave has led to claims of an "influx" of migrants seeking to find a job in Britain before rules around living and working in the country change.
Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of Migration Watch UK said: "This is yet another large increase in the labour force driven by an increase in foreign workers.
"That increase amounts to just over a million in three years. In the last year, just over half came from the EU, including 150,000 from Eastern Europe.
"This continuing influx helps explain why the British people voted for Brexit and is a sharp reminder that the forthcoming negotiations must get these numbers down."
The ONS figures show the number of non-UK nationals working in the UK has risen by almost a million since 1997, with the proportion increasing from 3.7 per cent to 10.9 per cent.
There were 2.3 million EU nationals working in the UK in the latest quarter, up by 232,000 on a year ago, but lower than the increase on the previous year.
Overall the unemployment rate in the UK hit a 10-year low but the researchers suggested the job market may be "cooling" overall.
There were 37,000 fewer people out of work in the quarter to September with 1.6 million people unemployed, the lowest number since 2006.
The number of people in work has jumped by 461,000 over the past year to a near-record high of just under 32 million.
The employment rate of 74.5 per cent is the highest since records began in 1971.
But there are fears that the increase in employment is down to more people becoming self-employed and that these workers often earn less.
Clare McNeil, director for work and families at the Institute For Public Policy Research, a think tank, said: "While this is promising for the economy given the uncertainty following the vote to leave the EU, it is still the case that almost half of the increase in employment compared with the same period last year is due to higher rates of self-employment.
"Almost half of the UK’s self-employed are in low pay, measured on an hourly basis, compared with around a fifth of employees.
"While the overall picture in terms of vacancies still looks strong, official statistics cannot tell us what is happening in specific industries or occupations.
"Caution is needed as data from IPPR and Burning Glass shows that there was a significant slump in vacancies in the finance sector between May/June to July/August, with a 13.6 per cent drop in vacancies in the finance sector in London, and a 10 per cent drop in England as a whole."