The Metropolis

For the first time in a decade, more Italians and Spaniards than Poles are coming to London to work

Mike Pollitt | Friday 8 February, 2013 11:10

Here’s an interesting chart. In 2011/12, for the first time in a decade, fewer Poles than Italians or Spaniards registered to work in London.

What story does this tell? Clearly the number of Poles coming to London to work over the last decade has been significant. This cannot and should not be denied – although note that the chart above does not tell us anything about how many of the people who came have remained, and for how long.

But it also shows a tailing off of new Polish arrivals, and a recent increase in those coming from Italy and Spain. There were just over 17,000 from each country in 2011/12. A decade ago both figures were close to 4,000.

The same caveat, about whether and long these workers will stay, applies to the Spanish and Italian numbers as much it does to the Polish. But with Spain’s unemployment rate currently at 26%, and youth unemployment rate at a barely credible 56%, it’s not hard to draw some speculative conclusions about the forces behind these numbers.

There’s stuff to ponder about here for the thoughtful citizen. Like why some people seem more welcome than others.

The full data set including year by year, borough by borough, nationality by nationality breakdowns based on the number of people gaining National Insurance numbers and giving a London address, can be perused at the london.gov website.

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