NEWS

Lack of migrant workers hit industry

A shortage of migrant workers in the East of England is threatening the stability of the region's £8.8 billion food and drink industry, manufacturers are warning.

After a period of rapid growth prompted by the admission of eight eastern European countries to the EU in 2004, including Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, numbers of migrant workers are now falling, causing a headache for companies that rely on them as a labour source.

Government figures show that applications from nationals of the most EU accession states to work in food and drink manufacturing in the east of England fell by 1.5 per cent in 2007, the first decrease since 2004.

A new study published by Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, reports that a quarter of food and drink companies in the region now employ workers from abroad, at an average of four per company.

Employers answered the poll on the condition of anonymity. Half said low numbers of migrant workers would leave them with job vacancies, while just under a third said it would lead to skills shortages and a drop in productivity.

Overall 73pc of companies said employing migrant workers had a positive impact on their business.

The study suggested the main reason for declining numbers of migrant workers was the improving economies of their home countries, particularly of Poland, which accounts for half of all migrant workers employed in the UK food and drink industry.

The fruit and vegetable and meat and poultry sectors are most at risk from the decrease in migrant labour. They have the highest proportion of companies employing migrants, at 66.7pc and 55pc respectively.

The meat industry also has the highest proportion of Polish workers, and evidence suggests it is Poles who are heading home at the fastest rate.

Improve chief executive Jack Matthews said: “These findings will be of great concern to many people in the industry. The issue is that food and drink companies turn to migrant labour because they cannot find staff in the numbers they need at home.

“It is nothing to do with lower wages: less than two per cent of employers give that as a reason for taking on migrant workers.

“It also has little to do with migrant workers having better skills - in fact, around two-thirds of them end up working in elementary roles despite being well qualified, suggesting that, if anything, the food and drink industry isn't making the most of their talents. “Companies use migrant labour out of necessity, and they have a significant and positive impact on the industry.”

“However, we need to ask ourselves whether we are over- reliant on migrant labour at the same time as we consider what we can do to retain valued workers from other countries.

“We have to look at boosting the domestic labour pool and the level of skills in our existing workforce in order to counter any decline in numbers of migrant workers and the potential threat to the industry's productivity that brings.”