The number of EU nationals employed in the UK between April and June 2018 stood at 2.28 million, a decline of 86,000 when compared to a year earlier and the largest annual fall since records began in 1997, according to data published earlier this week by the Office of National Statistics.

The ONS broke down its data on employed EU nationals in the UK and found that the fall was driven by workers from the eight East European countries that joined the EU in 2004.

The eight East European countries, known as the A8, are: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

The number of people working in the UK from the A8 countries fell by 117,000 for the period of April to June 2018 when compared to last year, also a record decline.

In contrast, the number of Romanian and Bulgarian nationals working in the UK has continued to increase reaching a record high of 391,000 in April to June 2018. Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.

Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) chief executive, Neil Carberry commented, “For UK business to continue to flourish it’s critical that there is a comprehensive mobility and migration deal with the EU post-Brexit, so firms have the capacity to invest and grow here in the UK.”

At the same time, ONS showed that there were 28.76 million UK nationals working in the UK, 332,000 more than for a year earlier. Furthermore, there were 1.27 million non-EU nationals working in the UK, 74,000 more than for a year earlier.

Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to reduce total net migration to the tens of thousands, and industries such as farming, food and hospitality are already reporting labour shortages.