Brexit: Which sectors stand to lose the most?

With only 8 days to go until the UK is due to leave the European Union, there is still a huge amount of uncertainty across the British economy about jobs, investment, and access to skilled workers. Whether the UK leaves with or without a deal, Brexit is likely to result in a large increase of workers from the EU leaving the UK and will probably have an impact on the number of people emigrating to Britain for work in the short and medium-term. This is likely to have an impact on a number of workers, both skilled and unskilled, who chose to settle and work in the UK now and in the future. ETZ reveals which industries are the most likely to be hit the hardest by the loss of EU national workers.
1) The Manufacturing of Food and Drink
Migrant labourers from the EU make up more than 30 per cent of all workers in the manufacturing of food products, including jobs like processing cheese and meat, making baked goods and animal slaughter.
2) Domestic Personnel and Care
Almost a quarter of domestic personnel such as housekeepers and carers come from the EU. There could be a huge effect on those who are reliant on care. Furthermore, 5.6 per cent of all NHS employees come from EU countries.
3) Accommodation Workers
Over a fifth of those who work in the British accommodation industry, including luxury and budget hotels, are EU born migrants.
4) Warehouse and support for transport
15 per cent of those who work in the UK’s vital transport industry immigrated to the UK from the EU.
5) Mining of metal ores
14 per cent of those who work in the UK’s mining industry are from the EU. As a leading exporter of lead, silver, chromium and platinum-group metal, the wider British economy could be damaged if this industry were to lose over a tenth of its workers due to Brexit.
With such a short period of time to go before the UK is due to leave the European Union, a huge number of industries rely heavily on the talent pool from continental Europe, such as construction and manufacturing. What is not discussed as much is the number of high-skilled workers that the UK could lose, such as financial advisors and IT consultants, many of which way work on a freelance basis.
More needs to be done by the government to reassure workers, whether they are full-time employees or contractors, of how Brexit will impact their careers and even their ability to work in the UK. The Migration Advisory Committee estimates that each additional migrant from the European Economic Area (EEA) will make a total contribution to the public purse of approximately £78,000 over his or her lifetime. In 2017, the average adult migrant from the EEA yielded £2,370 more for the Treasury than the average British-born adult did, so this talent pool is vital to the UK economy and for success outside of the European Union.
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