Exodus of Foreign Workers Leaves British Employers in the Lurch<br />“The big thing that’s on everybody’s mind is the labor shortage.”<br />Across Britain, fruit farmers like Mr. Mitchell are already scrambling to recruit<br />and retain workers ahead of next spring, when the competition for an ever-shrinking pool of labor will be at its fiercest.<br />The labor shortage is likely to worsen next year if the uncertainty over negotiations with other European Union members continues<br />and no government action is taken to fill in the vacuum, many farmers and industry officials say.<br />The construction sector last month warned that British infrastructure faced “severe setbacks” if Britain<br />did not train enough workers to stem a shortfall in laborers from European Union countries.<br />That makes it more uncertain to plan ahead.”<br />In Britain, the Brexit vote focused on immigration, and supporters of the exit option complained<br />that workers, especially from European Union member states like Romania and Bulgaria, were stealing jobs from born-and-bred Britons.<br />British agriculture experienced a labor shortfall of between 13 percent<br />and 29 percent on a monthly basis from May to September, according to the National Farmers Union.<br />In a statement, the Home Office said the government did not intend to operate migration schemes for non-European<br />citizens “while employers have access to unrestricted access to labor from elsewhere in the European Union
