EU workers provide Britain "high quality" staff: British gov't report

LONDON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) workers provide British businesses with "higher quality" staff, less likely to take time off than Britons, a landmark government migration advisers said Tuesday.

The British Home Office's Migration Advisory Committee warned in a wide-ranging study on the impact of Brexit on businesses that employers were fearful that tight restrictions on immigration would leave them with skills shortage, and unable to appoint the best candidate for the job.

Many employers expressed the view that migrants from the European Economic Area (EEA) are more reliable and more willing to work long and anti-social hours than British-born workers, the report said.

Some of these claims were "exaggerated" and suggested that posts could always be filled by Britons if a "sufficiently high wage" was offered, said the report, which was commissioned by British Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Meanwhile, the report said that the claim by employers that they would not attract more British workers even if they raised wages, was "not credible."

"What is best for an individual employer is not necessarily best for the welfare of the resident population," the report said, adding that there is "little evidence" that higher migration makes existing residents better off.

On work motivation and flexibility, the report said that it is "plausible" that EU migrants are "sometimes a high quality, eager workforce compared to UK-born workers in similar occupations: and can provide employers a "higher quality for the same rate."

It also found that the absenteeism rates are lower among EU workers, particularly among East Europeans who are 40 percent less likely to take time off than Britons in low-skilled jobs.

EU nationals make up 10 percent of London's population, the report noted, adding that the employers across a range of sectors want continued access to European workers and that many fear they could suffer if curbs are introduced.

However, the report said that "employers are too reluctant to discuss the role of wages" and that some EU citizens "seem to be lower paid" than Britons, with Eastern Europeans paid 27 percent less on average.

Restricting immigration from Europe after Brexit is very likely to lead to lower growth in total jobs and in the output of the British economy, the report said.

The labor economists are quite firm that the financial crisis and not EU migration has been the principle reason for the fall in real wages for UK-born workers since 2004. They note that the fall in real wages has not been confined to the low-skilled where the rise in EU migration has been the most marked.

The report took views from more than 400 businesses, industry bodies, government departments and other organizations.

Recent figures show net EU migration to the UK -- the difference between arrivals and departures -- was 90,000 in the year to September, the lowest for five years.

The British Home Office welcomed the report, saying that the evidence it included would be considered in the development of a new migration system which "works in the best interests of the whole of the UK." Enditem