European Union migrants and the British labour force
Annual net migration from the European Union rose to significant levels of approximately 100,000 people per annum following the accession of countries in eastern Europe to the union in 2004. It has more than doubled since 2012, reaching 183,000 in March 2015. (See Figure 2.)
Most migrants from the European Union come to the United Kingdom to work, boosting the workforce by around 0.5% a year in 2015.9 This supports the economy’s ability to grow without pushing up wage growth and inflation, keeping interest rates lower for longer.