Labour market. A gap filled

The new Europe is easing British labour shortages, slowly

SHAMROCK TRAVEL, a Welsh coach company, used to find it hard to recruit drivers. Unsociable hours meant that local workers' attendance was unreliable. That has changed since the firm hired 70 drivers from Malta, Lithuania and Estonia. They are not only friendlier than the locals they replaced, but more reliable too. Clayton Jones, Shamrock's boss, says he has never received so many letters praising the quality of customer service; the number of sick days taken has fallen by half since May.

That was the month when ten new members joined the European Union (EU) giving 75m people the unrestricted right to seek work in Britain, while most other EU members continued to impose restrictions and quotas.

This was very controversial. Immigration and asylum are a hot political issue. This week, for example, the government boasted that the numbers seeking asylum had dropped again, while dodging charges that it had manipulated the figures. But the real news on this subject is that the waves of east European migrants supposedly flooding into Britain have proved to be no more than a useful trickle.

Companies that want to recruit workers from the new EU member countries are having to work hard at it. Shamrock Travel, for example, arranged accommodation, language training, registration paperwork and medical check-ups for the new employees. It also sorted out school places for their children and social introductions for the families. It employs a full-time welfare officer to look after them.

Other employers use recruitment agencies. Grafton Recruitment, which specialises in Poland, has placed 200 people since May, with excellent feedback from clients, it says. Top Staff Employment, an agency based in Scotland that recruits Latvians for the catering and construction industries, is planning to expand to neighbouring Lithuania and Estonia.

For the many east Europeans already working in London, either on student visas or illegally, prospects have become markedly better. At Tastebuds Cleaning in London, where 90% of the staff are Polish, the boss, Alison Vicary, says that Poles will benefit now that they can work full-time and be promoted to management jobs.

A small trend, then, but likely to rise. Britain's economy will benefit. But locals lacking similarly marketable skills may find life just that bit harder.

The newly enlarged EU is easing British labour shortages slowly, as workers from other EU Member States fill vacancies.

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