Fewer European workers are looking for jobs in the UK, as Brexit plans seem to be hitting EU candidate confidence hard, according to new research from CV-Library.
The job board analysed traffic to its website over the last three years and finds over-all traffic from the EU fell by 4.3 per cent in the past 12 months, with even bigger being witnessed in traffic from these key countries:
Biggest drops in EU traffic 2015 vs. 2017
1. Slovenia – traffic down 40.2 per cent
2. Hungary – traffic down 28.6 per cent
3. Slovakia – traffic down 25.5 per cent
4. Romania – traffic down 22.7 per cent
5. Bulgaria – traffic down 18.2 per cent
Biggest drops in EU traffic 2016 vs. 2017
1. Belgium – traffic down 48.2 per cent
2. Slovenia – traffic down 27.9 per cent
3. Netherlands – traffic down 22.7 per cent
4. Romania – traffic down 20.3 per cent
5. Portugal – traffic down 19.1 per cent
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library comments, ‘Our data brings to light the concerns amongst EU workers around Brexit, with those living in other European countries clearly pulling back the reigns on their UK job applications. Despite a lack of clarification on what is actually going to happen, Brexit appears to have understandably made foreign staff think twice about coming to the country and this is sparking fears amongst businesses.
‘After-all, we do not have enough talent in the UK to meet demand right now and this is putting pressure on organisations to think more strategically about overcoming their recruitment challenges. This could mean a range of options: from being more creative with their job adverts and where they post them, to looking for people that have experience in different industries and honing in on school leavers and graduates.’
Alongside this, other countries which witnessed a drop in traffic over the past 12 months included: Hungary (-13.7 per cent), Poland (-13.5 per cent), Austria (-13.1 per cent) Slovakia (-12.4 per cent) and the Czech Republic (-9.6 per cent). On the other hand, when comparing traffic from 2016, to 2017, CV-Library reveals traffic from the following countries saw the biggest increases: Latvia (up 26.3 per cent), Cyprus (up nine per cent), Finland (up 9.6 per cent), Spain (up 8.6 per cent) and Malta (up 7.8 per cent).
Biggins continues, ‘Key industries within the UK are heavily reliant on migrant workers in order to keep up production and maintain productivity levels so it’s concerning to see such a dip in traffic across the board. That said, it’s clear that not all countries are feeling affected, with the likes of Latvia, Cyprus, Finland, Spain and Malta all increasing their traffic to our site in the past year. There is a great amount of uncertainty around keeping the talent pipeline full but these findings do provide some reassurance that the appetite is still there for some.’
Further reading on EU workers
