Paphos Life

Happy in Cyprus wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:41 am Slate chippings aside, this is the Good News fans of Brexit might wish to hear. NOT!


Brexit: London's Economy 'Beginning To Wobble' Amid EU Worker Slump, Report Finds
HuffPost UK George Bowden 18 July 2017

London’s economy “is beginning to wobble” amid a slump in the numbers of EU workers coming to Britain after the Brexit vote, an influential think tank has found.

The Centre for London said evidence of an economic slowdown included deteriorating house prices and plummeting business confidence, coinciding with a drop in the numbers of Europeans registering to work.

Registrations for new national insurance numbers by foreign workers have dropped 15 per cent since this time last year, with a fall in EU migration accounting for three quarters of the fall, the think tank found.

Food chain Pret a Manger has said it's concerned about Brexit because just one in 50 applicants seeking jobs is British (Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Kat Hanna, research manager at Centre for London, told HuffPost UK: “We are starting to see the beginnings of the effect Brexit might be having.

“There is some cause for concern, and while we’re not being alarmist, we are saying that we will not know how to handle Brexit without data like this.

“Yet there are positives: employment is at a record low in the captial and there are encouraging figures on NEETs (those not in education or training).”

The Centre’s report, The London Intelligence, found fewer foreign workers were seeking permits to work than in previous years - with EU born staff driving the decrease.

“These numbers do fluctuate but it is true to say these numbers are a significant drop,” Hanna said.

“It could be that the decision to leave the EU has sent out signals that London is not a place to come to work.”