The situation is not new – it already happened in August – but now it seems to be escalating as the holiday season approaches, with thousands of Britons leaving supermarket shelves empty to find storage space for Christmas.
Earlier this week, according to international media reports, the British were already panicking buying turkeys and frozen poultry sales were up more than 400%. What’s more, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that up to eight million Britons were unable to buy staple foods between September 22 and October 3.
Added to this data is a recent poll conducted by The Grocer, which shows that a third of people have already started shopping for Christmas food and drinks or plan to do so by the end of October. Two-thirds of Britons say they are still worried about the holiday deficit.
But this concern is not new. In September, oi spoke to Portuguese living in the UK who had already raised this concern and explained the scenario. “They also say it could affect Christmas stocks, and some people have already started buying turkeys to freeze for Christmas,” said Rita Ferreira, a Portuguese resident in Ealing, northwest of London at the time.
Brexit or pandemic issues? “This was primarily due to Brexit, but with the pandemic and restrictions, many European citizens who held these positions decided to permanently leave the country and return to their families,” says Rita Ferreira. “There is a sore shortage of truck drivers right now, but this is having a huge impact on other sectors such as agricultural workers and food businesses,” he explained.
The shortage of workers in the UK is more justified by Brexit than by the pandemic. This is because emigrants were very important in this respect. “The UK has been known for many years for accepting immigrants from all over the world. However, nowadays the entry of new emigrants is proving to be limited and rather bureaucratic, ”explained Enrique Tome, an analyst at XTB i in September. However, there is no doubt that the pandemic is also the cause of the current situation.
Paulo Rosa, senior economist at Banco Carregosa, argued that “in terms of migration flows, the current labor shortage in the UK is the result of a combination of Covid and Brexit,” noting that “labor shortages are not only a problem. The Brexit effect, but it is a fact that the UK’s exit from the European single market also contributed to this deficit. ”
And he warns: “Some industries need to realize that times when there was more workforce may end and employers will have to pay more to keep staff on track. Higher wages could lead to an unwanted rise in inflation. ” It is clear to the economist that “Brexit has caused problems in areas such as transportation, hotels and construction, and British employers are grappling with the worst staff shortages in 25 years.”
In fact, labor shortages are a problem that leads to another obstacle: fuel delivery. Remember that fuel distribution was recently affected and panic forced consumers to prime their pumps. This problem seems to have already been removed.
