EEA workers in the London labour market

Current Issues Note 56 key points:

• EEA workers have made an increasingly significant contribution to London’s labour market since 2004. They tend be young and highly qualified when compared to workers born in the UK or elsewhere; yet they work across a range of occupations and the rate of over-qualification among EEA-born graduates is higher than for UK or non-EEA born residents.
• In relative terms, London’s EEA workers make a particularly strong contribution to certain industries – especially construction and accommodation and food – but also account for a considerable number of jobs in several other sectors and mostly work in permanent roles.
• Working age residents born in the EU in London have a higher employment rate than residents born in the UK and, overall, there is a positive correlation between labour productivity and the share of jobs filled by EEA workers between different parts of the UK (although there are differences at a sector level within the capital’s economy).