Fraught departure from EU shrinks workforce

Blow to agriculture

Agriculture has also been dealt a devastating blow. In 2017, the National Farmers Union told Parliament that almost all of the 70,000 fruit and vegetable-harvesting seasonal workers employed in the UK were from Eastern Europe. And in 2018, the Migration Advisory Committee said 99 percent of seasonal agricultural workers were from the EU.

"Restricting free movement has had a devastating impact, but not just on horticulture or agriculture, on pretty much every sector where people (come) from abroad," vegetable farmer Julian Marks told Euronews in October 2021.

A December report in The New York Times on London's restaurant scene noted that around 11 percent of jobs in Britain's hospitality industry are vacant, compared to 4 percent across the wider economy, a situation it said was "almost wholly a result of Brexit".

Agencies contributed to this story.