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More than 70% of 304 businesses surveyed by the Confederation of
British Industry (CBI) said reduced access to skilled workers
was the biggest threat to the country's labor market.
Over half of the companies said they would be hurt if
immigration policy were not simplified.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed an Australian-style,
points-based system for deciding who can come into Britain to
work after Brexit with people of "exceptional talent" being
fast-tracked into the country.
"It's clear what's weighing on businesses minds is uncertainty
about the new immigration system," CBI policy director Matthew
Fell said. "Whatever the final shape, it needs to be simple from
its first day of introduction."
Net migration by EU citizens to Britain dropped to 48,000 in the
12 months to June, its lowest since the start of quarterly
records in 2009, according to official data published last
month.
A Home Office spokesman said: "As we end free movement, the new
system will allow us to decide who comes to this country on the
basis of the skills they have and the contribution they can make
— not where they come from."
The CBI said 65% of respondents in its survey believed Britain's
labor market had become a less attractive place in which to
invest and do business over the past five years, the highest
proportion since the survey began 22 years ago.
The survey also found weaker hiring expectations than in 2017
and 2018.
The CBI survey was conducted between Aug. 27 and Oct. 4. The
companies who took part employ 830,000 people.
(Reporting by Joanna Taylor; editing by William Schomberg)
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