Britain attracts more temporary workers from the European Union than official immigration figures indicate, a study revealed today.
An inquiry was launched by the Office for National Statistics into the accuracy of its figures after critics claimed there was a glaring difference between official migrant numbers and the number of National Insurance numbers issued each year.
It concluded that an increasing number of migrants who leave after working for a few months or weeks, such as seasonal workers, “largely account” for the gap in statistics.
Glen Watson, deputy national statistician for population and public policy, said the ONS was “confident” its measure of long-term migration, the International Passenger Survey, was accurate.
He said NI numbers were “not a good indicator” of the number of people settling in the UK because they failed to reveal how many people left within a year.
“The number of short-term migrants coming to the UK to work or study has been rising recently,” he said. “But you need to consider the short-term migrants leaving these shores as well to get the full picture.”
The study quashed claims by critics of the EU that the actual levels of inward migration were much higher than the Government admitted. But it did reveal that there are more temporary workers than show up in the official statistics which focus on people staying a year or more.
In the year to September, just under 655,000 NI numbers were registered to EU citizens. Over the same period, immigration figures indicate a net 257,000 migrants from the EU.
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