More South Africans are moving to the UK for work

Networking website LinkedIn has published its latest workforce report which analysed hiring reports in the UK over the last 12 months.

LinkedIn said that more of its members left the UK for the European Union than arrived over the past year after the coronavirus and Brexit sent shock waves through the labour market.

However, the group noted an influx of workers from other countries – including South Africa and India.

The exodus from Britain accelerated through the early months of 2021, even as net migration from countries outside the EU remained positive, Bloomberg reported.

The findings indicate a broad reshaping of the UK workforce that could have implications for the potential of an economic recovery.

“These trends are accelerating,” said Mariano Mamertino, senior economist at LinkedIn. “We’re seeing two diverging trends: net-migration losses for the UK with the rest of the EU, and net-migration gains for the UK with non-EU countries.”

The biggest net outflows of LinkedIn members were to Germany, France and Spain. Inflows came from India, Nigeria and South Africa, with the software and IT sector experiencing the biggest gain in non-EU workers, it said.

Data from the UK’s office for national statistics shows that there are an estimated 229,000 South Africans currently living in the country.

However, this does not necessarily account for South Africans who have moved to the UK through ancestral connections.

By comparison, there were 255,000 South Africans living in the UK as at the end of 2019 – an effective net decline of 26,000 people.

While this is a significant drop, similar declines were seen for other countries – likely a result of the pandemic and Brexit regulations.

MyBroadband reported that the United Kingdom remains a top destination for skilled South African technology and finance workers.

Following Brexit-induced immigration changes, the UK is now implementing radical visa reforms that will make it easier for qualified and promising professionals from other countries to immigrate.

Additionally, while standard and skilled work visas require job offers from sponsoring UK companies, the UK offers a Global Talent visa for skilled professionals in certain fields.

This allows them to move to the UK without a job offer, provided they meet certain criteria. This is also being expanded amid a raft of immigration reforms designed to attract skilled workers to the UK from all over the world.

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