August 27, 2008

The UK's GBP 13.7 billion (US$25.3 billion) poultry meat industry may destabilise if there is a shortage of migrant labour, according to a new study by Improve, Sector Skills Council for Food and Drink Manufacturing in the UK.
 
The study said there are currently about 24,000 foreigners working in the industry, employed in more than half of the meat and poultry companies surveyed. Therefore, a fall in migrant labour may lead to a loss of productivity in the sector, the study said.

According to the report, there was a 4-percent drop in applications from EU accession states nationals to work in the food and beverage industry between 2006 and 2007, as growing economies in other countries made the UK job market less attractive.

In the same period, non-EU nationals' applications for work in the meat and poultry sector fell by nearly 60 percent.

Improve chief executive Jack Matthews said companies used migrant labour as there is a lack of domestic workers with specialist skills.

In the survey, more than three quarters of companies agreed that migrant labour was positive for their business, with one-third of all interviewed companies agreeing that a decline in migrant labour would negatively impact productivity.