London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

UK labour crisis could last up to two years, CBI warns

UK labour crisis could last up to two years, CBI warns

Lobby group urges action on visas for foreign workers such as drivers, welders, butchers and bricklayers
The labour crisis could last for up to two years, Britain’s leading business lobby group has warned, as it called for ministers to take action on visas for foreign workers and stop “waiting for shortages to solve themselves”.

Amid the most severe labour crunch since the 1970s, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) launched a broadside against the government, saying the UK’s economic recovery from the winter lockdown was being undermined by a lack of skills in key positions, with mounting risks that the problem would continue for some time.

“Standing firm and waiting for shortages to solve themselves is not the way to run an economy,” said the CBI director general, Tony Danker, whose group represents 190,000 businesses with more than 7 million employees. “We need to simultaneously address short-term economic needs and long-term economic reform.”

He said the government’s ambition to make the British labour force more highly skilled and productive was right, and that businesses would train and hire more homegrown workers in time, but added that this could not be achieved overnight.

“A refusal to deploy temporary and targeted interventions to enable economic recovery is self-defeating,” said Danker.

The CBI is calling for the government’s shortage occupation list, which helps recruit workers from abroad to fill particular skills gaps, to be updated to include lorry drivers, welders, butchers and bricklayers.

A lack of butchers in slaughterhouses has caused a crisis on pig farms, with the National Pig Association warning that farmers may have to kill and burn nearly 100,000 animals unless ministers agree to a temporary relaxation of visa rules so that additional workers can be recruited to process the meat.

Britain needs about 100,000 more lorry drivers, according to the Road Haulage Association, which estimates it will take at least 18 months to train enough people to fill the gaps.

Businesses are having to cut capacity because they are unable to meet demand, the CBI said, with hoteliers limiting the number of bookable rooms because they don’t have enough housekeeping staff and can’t get linen laundered. Elsewhere, restaurant owners have had to choose between lunchtime and evening services because they are unable to cater for both.

Danker said: “Businesses are already spending significant amounts on training, but that takes time to yield results, and some members suggest it could take two years rather than a couple of months for labour shortages to be fully eliminated.”

Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, wrote to business leaders last month calling for firms to hire British workers to deal with labour shortages rather than relying on immigration.

With the furlough scheme due to be removed at the end of this month, he suggested domestic workers should be a priority, telling bosses: “Many UK-based workers now face an uncertain future and need to find new employment opportunities.”

However, the Resolution Foundation said on Sunday that staff shortages were unlikely to be solved by the end of furlough, and warned mismatches between the types of jobs that may no longer be needed and vacancies elsewhere in the economy would persist into next year without government action.

The number of people on furlough fell to 1.7 million in August, and the thinktank said as many as 900,000 workers could still be reliant on the wage support scheme when it ends on 30 September, most of them older workers or those under the age of 25. However, the majority are likely to return to their previous jobs. And despite firms reporting hiring bottlenecks, even a fresh surge in job starts is unlikely to prevent unemployment rising this autumn.

“Furlough ending is not the panacea some people think will magically fill labour supply gaps,” said Danker. “These shortages are already affecting business operations and will have a negative impact on the UK’s economic recovery.”

In a report published on Monday, the CBI said firms with furloughed workers would probably bring them back, which would not help companies struggling with labour shortages. It said people facing redundancy would probably prefer to get back into their old occupation with other firms, or would need time to retrain into other sectors, meaning there would be little immediate benefit.

The CBI said a third of the companies responding to its July manufacturing survey were worried that a lack of workers would limit economic growth this autumn, the highest share since the mid-1970s.

The Guardian has approached the Home Office for comment.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×