Farmers, bankers, retailers, transporters and restaurateurs have warned in recent weeks that tighter immigration rules put in place after Britain left the European Union are making it hard for them to find workers and keep their businesses running.
"To stay competitive, we must have the best global talent. Without it, we will not be able to innovate in key growth areas like FinTech or green finance, nor build out our international trading networks," CEO Miles Celic said in a statement."The UK must strive harder to modernize its immigration processes," he added.
The government responded with emergency measures that included temporary 5,000 visas for foreign truck drivers. Britain faces a much bigger shortfall of 100,000 drivers, according to industry groups, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson signaled that his government is unlikely to authorize more. "Christmas is about more than just food, so to avoid disappointment for millions of households during the festive season we urge the government to rapidly extend this program, both in size and scope, to [truck] drivers in all sectors of the retail industry," he said in a statement.It was relatively easy for UK companies to recruit European workers when the country was a member of the European Union, which allows free movement of people within the bloc.
Many companies are offering bonuses in hopes of recruiting UK workers, but they face a tight labor market. There were a record 1 million job vacancies between June and August, according to the Office for National Statistics. Pub chain Wetherspoon said Friday that while it has"received a reasonable number of applications for vacancies," it has struggled to find staff in some areas of the the United Kingdom including the West Country.
Pig farmers are in trouble too, as a shortage of butchers and drivers prevents meat getting from farms to consumers. With a backlog of more than 100,000 animals, they now face the prospect of mass animal culling.