Exodus of Foreign Workers Leaves British Employers in the Lurch
“The big thing that’s on everybody’s mind is the labor shortage.”
Across Britain, fruit farmers like Mr. Mitchell are already scrambling to recruit
and retain workers ahead of next spring, when the competition for an ever-shrinking pool of labor will be at its fiercest.
The labor shortage is likely to worsen next year if the uncertainty over negotiations with other European Union members continues
and no government action is taken to fill in the vacuum, many farmers and industry officials say.
The construction sector last month warned that British infrastructure faced “severe setbacks” if Britain
did not train enough workers to stem a shortfall in laborers from European Union countries.
That makes it more uncertain to plan ahead.”
In Britain, the Brexit vote focused on immigration, and supporters of the exit option complained
that workers, especially from European Union member states like Romania and Bulgaria, were stealing jobs from born-and-bred Britons.
British agriculture experienced a labor shortfall of between 13 percent
and 29 percent on a monthly basis from May to September, according to the National Farmers Union.
In a statement, the Home Office said the government did not intend to operate migration schemes for non-European
citizens “while employers have access to unrestricted access to labor from elsewhere in the European Union