Record fall in number of EU nationals working in UK

The number of EU nationals employed in the UK has fallen by 132,000 over the last year amid an exodus of eastern European workers, official figures show.

It was the biggest such fall in two decades and builds on a decline which was already being seen earlier this year, reversing a trend that had seen the numbers increasing until 2017.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 2.25m people from the EU were in work in the three months to September - 132,000 fewer than for a year earlier.

That was the largest such fall since comparable records began in 1997 and was the result of a decrease in the number of workers from the eight eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic that joined the EU in 2004.

The number from those eight countries - which also include Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia - declined by 154,000 compared with last year, to 881,000, down from a record high of 1.05 million two years ago.

Over the same one-year period the number of UK nationals in work rose by 448,000 to 29m.

The figures were published alongside wider labour market data that showed the UK unemployment rate rose for the first time this year in the three months to September to 4.1%, up from 4% the month before as the number of people classed as unemployed rose by 21,000 to 1.38m.

The rate was still close to 43-year lows while those in work saw further improvements in their pay packets as average weekly earnings - excluding bonuses - rose by 3.2%.

That was up from 3.1% recorded the month before and the highest rate of wage growth since the three months to December 2008.

In real terms, stripping out inflation - pay was up by 0.9%, the highest rate since the end of 2016.

ONS senior statistician Matt Hughes said: "The labour market is little changed on the previous three months, though still stronger than it was at this time last year.

"With faster wage growth and more subdued inflation, real earnings have picked up noticeably in the last few months.

"However, real wage growth is below the level seen in 2015, and real wages have not yet returned to their 2008 levels.

"The recent uptick in British nationals in work and the decline in workers from the so-called 'A8' eastern European countries both seem to be accelerating."

Employment minister Alok Sharma said: "Once again, the benefits of a strong jobs market are paying off, with the eighth month of real-terms wage growth for UK workers and the highest regular pay growth in almost a decade."

But TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Pay is rising at a snail's pace and wages aren't expected to return to their pre-crash value for at least another 6 years."