The UK’s employment landscape has seen a significant shift, with about 10% fewer jobs held by EU nationals, and employment among people from outside the EU increasing by 69%. The HMRC, the UK’s tax authority, provided data following a Freedom of Information request by Neil O’Brien, a member of parliament and former government minister. Of the 1.481 million additional employments recorded in the UK, 1.465 million were held by non-EU nationals, with UK nationals accounting for only 257,000.

Specifically, nationals from India and Nigeria saw the most significant increases, with 488,000 and 279,000 more employments, respectively. Pakistan and Ghana also recorded substantial employment growth, with increases of 101,000 and 55,000, respectively. In the private sector, non-EU nationals saw a 1.2 million increase in employment opportunities, while UK nationals secured just 29,000 additional jobs.

However, the report also highlighted a decline in earnings for Indian and Nigerian nationals relative to their UK counterparts. Ben Brindle, an economist at Oxford University’s Migration Observatory think tank, suggested that non-EU migrants are increasingly taking up roles that were previously held by EU workers before Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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