EMPLOYER GROUPS URGE LIMITS ON WORKERS FROM NEW EU STATES

Access to the UK jobs market should be restricted for migrant workers from Romania and Bulgaria if the two join the European Union next year, according to some of Britain's biggest employer organisations.

Business leaders have previously welcomed the opportunity to overcome labour shortages and stem wage inflation by hiring thousands of cheaper eastern European workers from countries that joined the EU in 2004.

But now some are concerned about the potential impact on over-stretched public services and local communities if the government continues its "open door" policy towards workers from prospective new member states.

Susan Anderson, director of human resources policy at the CBI, the biggest employer body, said: "There is a strong argument to pause for a period before opening up to workers from further new member states, while we learn the lessons from experience to date.

"Workers from accession countries such as Poland and Lithuania have been welcomed by UK businesses, which have benefited from their hard work and much-needed skills. But present systems for monitoring and controlling migration need to be improved."

David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, also argues for a "pause" in the "open-door policy towards migrant workers". Official figures show that 392,000 workers from eastern Europe have ap-plied under the government's registration scheme since May 2004. But Mr Frost says employers' reports indicate the actual numbers are much higher.

Writing in the Financial Times last month, Mr Frost said that vast numbers of migrant workers from eastern Europe risked creating significant social problems, particularly in urban areas where unqualified local youngsters might be struggling to find jobs. He said: "It will not be a cohesive society if we have increasing numbers of migrants employed, but at the same time the indigenous population is unable to find work."

The catering and hospitality industry, a big employer of migrant workers, also opposes an open-door policy for Bulgarian and Romanian workers. Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, said: "There should be a pause. Migrant workers [from Bulgaria and Romania] should only be allowed in if it can be proved there is an existing skill shortage, such as for chefs, and that job applicants have acceptable proven qualifications."

But organisations representing the agriculture and food processing industries, which employ big numbers of migrant workers, favour free access to Bulgarian and Romanian workers.