June 21 (SeeNews) - More developed markets will absorb the flow of Romanians working in UK in case of a Brexit followed by labour restrictions for Romanian citizens, a local labour market analyst told SeeNews.
The Romanian market is not able to meet the higher income expectations of Romanians who might be forced to return to their homeland following a possible Brexit, Lugera -The People Republic chief operations manager Bogdan Dragoescu told SeeNews.
"In case the Brits will impose restrictions on their labour market for Romanian citizens, the most likely situation will be that the flow will be redirected to other European countries," he added.
However, Dragoescu noted that it is in Britain's best interest to maintain the inflow of foreign labour force in order to keep its economic competitiveness. "As long as the UK employers have used the simplified formalities with the EU citizens, I estimate that the pressures from the economy will drive the 'open borders' approach," he added.
In the first quarter of 2016, the number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers employed in the UK reached 232,000 from 186,000 in the same period of last year, the UK's Office for National Statistics latest data showed.
Non-UK nationals from the EU working in the UK increased by 224,000 on the year to 2.15 million in January-March period.
Lugera - The People Republic is a recruitment and human resource consultancy company established in Slovakia in 1996. It has offices in Armenia, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Netherlands and Ukraine.