Told you so: Number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers surges to record high

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...cord-high.html

Number of Romanian and Bulgarian migrant workers reaches record high

Official data shows a 42 per cent surge in numbers from the two former Communist states during 2013, ahead of rule changes at start of January

Until the start of this year Romanians and Bulgarians could only come to work in Britain under a specific set of circumstances

Romanians and Bulgarians have taken one in 10 new jobs in the past year as the number working in Britain has risen by 40 per cent.

In the final three months of last year, shortly before immigration restrictions were lifted, 144,000 people born in the two countries were working in Britain — and they took 41,670 of the 424,503 jobs which were created last year.

The Office for National Statistics figures also show that the number of unemployed fell by 125,000 to 2.3 million, although the pace is slowing. Wages rose by 1 per cent between October and December, but this was still significantly lower than the level of inflation. Restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian migrants were lifted on Jan 1, giving them the ability to move to Britain, work here and claim benefits.

David Cameron faced criticism last month after claiming that a “reasonable” number of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants have arrived since then, but was later forced to admit that he had not seen official figures to support his claim.

Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of MigrationWatch UK, which campaigns for tougher immigration laws, said: “These latest figures show a steady increase in the number, just of workers from Romania and Bulgaria, in the UK even before restrictions were lifted in January – an increase of 30 to 40,000.”

In an attempt to quell public anxiety, the Government has announced that EU migrants will have to wait for at least three months before they can claim out-of-work benefits. However, Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, pointed to figures suggesting that nearly nine in 10 jobs go to British workers — although these figures account for nationality rather than country of birth.

A Home Office report, also published on Wednesday, found that in 2012 more British workers took low-skilled jobs than foreign workers for the first time in a decade. However, the trend reversed last year as the economic crisis in the eurozone saw a rise in lower-skilled employment among citizens from Spain, Italy and Portugal of more than 40 per cent.

A source close to Mr Duncan-Smith said: “Our plan has involved taking decisive steps on welfare and immigration to prevent abuse of free movement and protect … the UK benefits system.”

Until the start of this year Romanians and Bulgarians could come to work in Britain only if an employer had backed a visa, if they were self-employed or on a temporary basis to fill fruit-picking jobs or other agricultural work.

The ONS figures also showed that the number of migrant workers from eastern Europe reached 728,000 at the end of last year. The total number of EU workers was 1,712,000, up 8 per cent year-on-year.

Quelle surprise.

cargill55 - a day ago

Farage and UKIP were right, then, not a surprise.

GreatBrithole - a day ago

'James Brokenshire, the immigration minister, said: “These figures show we are building an immigration system that works in the national interest. '

Which figures show this?

All that the coalition have done is to continue where Labour left off in engineering the complete destruction of everything that used to be good about this country. Their rhetoric does not match their actions at all and it's quite clear that they are at war with the indigenous British people, financially, politically, psychologically and genocidally.

thecccuuttsman - a day ago

No wonder it takes three weeks to get a doctors appointment..

I told you so. Now just wait until the 2014 figures... and the morons in Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats want the 80m and very poor Republic of Turkey to join the EU which will mean open borders with a country that borders Iraq.

Isn't it time we gained control of our own borders like Australia? Thoughts?

[The Don]

Of course the numbers are gonna rise when you remove restrictions, isn't that common sense?

[-:Undertaker:-]

Of course the numbers are gonna rise when you remove restrictions, isn't that common sense?

But as I understand it, the numbers here went up before the restrictions were even lifted.

Yet that didn't stop the Government, Guardian and others after January 1st 2014 saying how Farage, Daily Mail/Express and others had 'scaremongered' over the threat of a flood of Romanian and Bulgarians when it turns out that the flood has been taking place even prior to the restrictions being lifted.

[The Don]

But as I understand it, the numbers here went up before the restrictions were even lifted.

Yet that didn't stop the Government, Guardian and others after January 1st 2014 saying how Farage, Ukip and others had 'scaremongered' over the threat of a flood of Romanian and Bulgarians when it turns out that the flood has been taking place even prior to the restrictions being lifted.

Because the restrictions were about to be removed?

They were scaremongering, it's hardly the end of the world that a few Romanians and Bulgarians are coming over.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Because the restrictions were about to be removed?

What's that got to do with it? Common sense would predict that if anything we are going to experience an even worse surge in migrants coming over here in 2014 - something that the Government, EU, Guardian and others all said was 'scaremongering rubbish'.

Just like in 2004 when they said exactly the same and were dead wrong. Predicted 14,000 a year and ended up with hundreds of thousands.

They were scaremongering

So even when the official figures (which are usually bs anyway, it usually turns out to be much worse than the Government say) prove that fears over mass immigration were correct, you still call it scaremongering. I think that sums up your argument: irrational.

it's hardly the end of the world that a few Romanians and Bulgarians are coming over.

You mean tens of thousands - which could go into the hundreds of thousands. It's very easy to sit there as our politicians do and say that, but if you are somebody on a lower wage having their wage depressed because of mass immigration, or your child can't get into the best school because you're being driven out by the children of newcomers, or the waiting list in your local hospital or doctors is crammed full, or if nobody speaks the language in your area anymore and you feel alienated (as you would)...... then it's a different story.

But I think your attitude sums up perfectly what the rich, insulated people running this country think of the issue which is that open borders are utterly fantastic if you live in Chipping Norton or Islington and that anybody who opposes such an idea must be a racist, insane or scaremongering.

I just wish our politicians would be more honest like you and say that they fully support open borders and all that it comes with it and that it isn't the end of the world if you suffer all of those problems in your area that I mentioned. Essentially, let them eat cake.

[myles]

GET EM OUT GET EM OUT

[The Don]

So even when the official figures (which are usually bs anyway, it usually turns out to be much worse than the Government say) prove that fears over mass immigration were correct, you still call it scaremongering. I think that sums up your argument: irrational.

Nice try, shame I was referring to them scaremongering over the damage caused by Romanians and Bulgarians coming over, not anything to do with the numbers. Try reading the full sentence in the proper context next time rather than splitting it up to make it look as if they were two different points when clearly I went on to explain what I was referring to with the scaremongering comment.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Nice try, shame I was referring to them scaremongering over the damage caused by Romanians and Bulgarians coming over, not anything to do with the numbers. Try reading the full sentence in the proper context next time rather than splitting it up to make it look as if they were two different points when clearly I went on to explain what I was referring to with the scaremongering comment.

Tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands of people coming over (especially in an unpredictable manner) does cause a lot of damage in terms of school places, hospitals, jobs, wage rates, social cohesion, social tensions, crime and housing. It's like stating that pigs don't fly.

You can twist this anyway you want. The people's of Europe are turning against open border madness.

[The Don]

Tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands of people coming over (especially in an unpredictable manner) does cause a lot of damage in terms of school places, hospitals, jobs, wage rates, social cohesion, social tensions, crime and housing. It's like stating that pigs don't fly.

You can twist this anyway you want. The people's of Europe are turning against open border madness.

We've had these debates before and if I recall correctly you simply stopped replying? I think you are greatly exaggerating simply because you hate the EU and want some more ammo.

[Kardan]

So, let's have a look at ALL the data...

By country of birth, number of employed people in the UK between Oct and Dec 2013:

Total: 30,241,000
UK: 25,768,000
Non-UK: 4,457,000
Non-EU: 2,745,000
EU: 1,712,000
Rest of the World: 1,026,000
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden: 810,000
Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia: 728,000
Africa excluding South Africa: 583,000
India: 427,000
Pakistan and Bangladesh: 325,000
South Africa: 153,000
Romania and Bulgaria: 144,000
USA: 101,000

So, you guys might be worrying about all the 144,000 Romanians and Bulgarians and talking about the EU whilst just ignoring the 2.7million non-Europeans working in the country.

So, before you moan that they are talking all our jobs, please also mention the Africans, South Africans, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and frankly, almost the rest of the world.

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Also, this "surges to a record high" - yes, it did reach a new high. It reached a new high of 144,000 from it's previous high of 141,000.

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Tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands of people coming over (especially in an unpredictable manner) does cause a lot of damage in terms of school places, hospitals, jobs, wage rates, social cohesion, social tensions, crime and housing. It's like stating that pigs don't fly.

You can twist this anyway you want. The people's of Europe are turning against open border madness.

The data says absolutely NOTHING about Romanians and Bulgarians migrating to the UK.