No joke...
After joking yesterday about how the hospitality industry would doubtless be blamed for a shortage of staff caused by Brexit, I found myself in a deli.
Here I heard that the adjoining cafe had been shut because there were not enough staff to run both. So I popped next door for a consoling pint, only to find the local pub had one bar shut because it couldn’t recruit enough workers.
The pub had even organised an open day, to show local people what the work was like, what shifts they could do, the pay levels and how pleasant it was. Not a single person even came to the open day, not one.
Both firms are now smaller and less profitable.
The fact is that immigrants boost the economy by working and paying taxes, fewer workers means a smaller economy.
That’s it really, it is just that simple.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.