LOGISTICS businesses are struggling to fill job vacancies as the number of EU nationals immigrating to the UK for work continues to plummet, according to a report released by the FTA, which is asking government to recognise how reliant the industry is on EU workers and to amend its future immigration policy to welcome these vital individuals post-Brexit.
According to the report sponsored by Manpower, declining EU net migration has contributed to a 43% rise in job vacancies in the transport and storage industry over the past 24 months.
Sally Gilson, head of skills campaigns at FTA, comments: ‘The logistics sector is facing serious challenges in the recruitment and retention of labour: 59,000 HGV drivers alone are urgently needed just to keep operations afloat. Businesses within the logistics sector are reliant on access to EU workers who currently constitute 13% of the entire logistics workforce. The number of EU nationals moving to the UK for work is now more than 50% lower than its peak period between June 2015-June 2016.’
The report also identified that difficulties recruiting younger people, in addition to existing employees reaching retirement age, is exasperating the driver shortage; 60% of HGV drivers are aged 44 years or older and only 19% under the age of 35.
