UK firms facing biggest worker shortage

UK manufacturers are reportedly facing the biggest shortage of skilled workers since 1989 amid record levels of UK employment and falling numbers of EU27 nationals coming to the country to work since the Brexit vote.

Four-fifths of employers in manufacturing, and almost as many in the service sector, reported difficulties in finding the right workers.

Dr Adam Marshall, the director general of the BCC, said the government urgently needed to recognise the magnitude of the recruitment difficulties firms faced as ministers prepared to introduce restrictions on EU nationals working in the UK after Brexit.

He added: “Business concerns about the government’s recent blueprint for future immigration rules must be taken seriously – and companies must be able to access skills at all levels without heavy costs or bureaucracy.”