Companies in Britain said there is a spike in recruitment difficulty in the past few weeks.
According to official records on Thursday, the difficulty is due to the persisting lack of EU workers.
Nearly 41% of Over-ten-employees companies reported an unusual increase in recruitment difficulty in the two weeks before September 5.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the percentage was 32% earlier in August.
Almost 25% of the businesses said the reason behind the difficulties is the lower number of EU workers.
Alternatively, nearly half of the transportation and storage companies said the reason is the lack of truck drivers, as it caused widespread delivery issues.
The deficiency in labor is mostly spread in the hospitality business, followed by water, healthcare and construction.
The UK enacted a new immigration law on January 1, which requires most EU workers living abroad to get work visas; a prolonged and costly process.
The percentage of EU nationals working in Britain in the three months before the end of June was 8.7%.
This is less than the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period, with a 2.4% decrease in the total workforce’s size, the ONS said.
High Vacancy rates
ONS showed in its data this week that Britain had a record-high over one million job vacancies in the three months before the end of June.
Sarah Coles, a financial analyst at brokers Hargreaves Lansdown, said recruitment difficulties have become common in companies’ reports.
“In some cases, this means businesses are struggling to operate effectively, which in turn is hindering the GDP,” she said.
The companies have called on the British government to temporarily facilitate visa rules to allow more time for staff training.
However, the government has refused and said the solution is for companies to increase salaries and improve working conditions.
The Bank of England expects oil prices to rise, as well as a post-pandemic hindrance and labor shortages.
This is to increase inflation up to 4% by the end of 2021, despite expectations of seeing potential negligence in the job market.
