They have spread rapidly in cities across the country, a wave of retailers that visibly reflects our changing times. Polskie delikatesy – the convenience stores that sell Polish essentials such as Kabanos smoked sausage, Makowiec poppy-seed cakes and Kubus, a carrot-based vegetable drink – have become a an essential resource for a new generation of immigrant workers.
Rewind five years and such places did not exist; there was no market for their produce. Instead, immigrants tended to come from countries that were once part of the Commonwealth, not those that had shivered for decades behind the iron curtain. But the accession to the EU in 2004 of eight eastern European countries – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – has had consequences not just for the UK's immigration system, but its social fabric.
Much of what has happened since 2004 has been genuinely unexpected and unplanned. While the majority of EU states initially kept their doors closed, the UK, Denmark and Ireland welcomed the immigrants – reassured by assessments that, at most, tens of thousands would come. But with few options at home and the UK economy then booming, they came in their hundreds of thousands, all seeking a better life. How many has been difficult to gauge. Some entered the black economy; others did not work; many quickly returned home.
A major report, drawing on official data sources including the Labour Force Survey, the Worker Registration Scheme and national insurance statistics, has now attempted to chart what even its hyperbole-shy authors describe as "the almost unprecedented scale and speed of eastern European immigration".
Produced by the Migration Policy Institute and commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, it estimates that 1.5 million people have entered the UK since 2004. The scale of the influx suggests the migrants should make for a heterogeneous group, but the report concludes that they are remarkably similar. Roughly two-thirds are from Poland, with 70% aged between 18 and 35. Many are well-educated and highly skilled. The vast majority – 63% in the case of Poles – stay for less than 12 months. Many have relied on their own social networks to find housing, work and companionship. Inevitably, this has led to clustering – more than a quarter have ended up in London, for example. But there have also been inflows into rural areas, such as the East Anglian Fens and suburban enclaves such as Slough in the Thames valley.
Significantly, only around half – 700,000 – of those arriving since 2004 now remain. For every Polish worker who has carved out an enduring career, it seems there are scores more who became temporary plumbers, agricultural labourers and catering staff, saved their money then returned home. This short-termism, coupled with a reliance on their own folk for support, has presented challenges to the migrants and to British society. As the report's authors conclude: "The recent migrants receive low wages and are concentrated in unskilled work, often despite high levels of education. In many cases the new migrants have precarious employment and housing arrangements, are vulnerable to exploitation… [and] contrary to received wisdom, language barriers appear to be greater than for the UK's other immigrant groups."
Around 80% of working-age eastern European migrants who arrived after 2004 spoke a language other than English at home, compared with about 40% for other groups. This had consequences for their job prospects. About a quarter had work-related language difficulties, compared with about 6% for other immigrants. This trend is also being felt in the education system.
The schools' census reveals that 4.4% of pupils whose first language was not English spoke Polish, Lithuanian, Slovak or Czech. Teaching unions have called for more resources to help them cope. It is a refrain likely to become more urgent in the run-up to the general election as political parties seek to assuage voter anxiety about immigration. As the communities minister, John Denham, acknowledged last week: "In some places we've seen antipathy against eastern Europeans or Muslims becoming more acceptable – justified on the grounds of religious difference, but manifesting itself in terms of racial prejudice."
Such prejudice is ill-judged. The report concludes that since 2004, the "overall fiscal impact" of eastern European migrants from the so-called A8 countries is "probably small, but positive". Few could be labelled "workshy". Around 95% of male eastern European migrants and 80% of females find work on arrival. They are also much less likely to receive benefits than indigenous workers. Indeed, most employers are quick to cite an excellent work ethic as a factor in hiring them. This may explain why, during the recession, their unemployment rate has remained low.
The report concludes that the unemployment rate among workers from A8 countries was around 5% during the third quarter of 2009, when the recession was at its nadir, compared with 7.8% among UK-born workers and 12% among those from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. But, despite often being highly skilled, more than half end up in low-paid jobs, compared with 18% of native-born workers. "As a result, they receive lower wages," the report's authors conclude, "Eighty-nine per cent of A8 workers earned less than £400 per week in 2007, compared with 57% of UK-born workers."
The report found that "recent A8 migrants have typically earned between 60% and 70% of natives' median wage in the same year. By comparison, recent Pakistani immigrants had similar relative wages during the 2005-2008 period."
This has prompted concerns that the influx is having an impact on the lowest- paid indigenous workers.
"Eastern European workers have provided a boost to Britain's economy, although more than half of them have returned home," said Andrea Murray, acting group director of strategy at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. "Despite being over-educated for many roles, they have been willing to take on jobs that many other workers do not wish to do."
This trend could have long-term consequences for the jobs market, the report concludes: "UK employers' demand for workers at the low end of the skills spectrum is expected to rise over the coming decade… This implies that UK employers will continue to look to immigrant workers from eastern Europe to fill less skilled jobs." To address these potential tensions, the commission believes there is a need for the government to introduce measures to bring the eastern European workers out of their enclaves.
"We should be reassessing how well we assist new migrants to learn English, enforce laws designed to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable workers and provide adequate supports to regions with substantial numbers of new migrants," said Murray.
It is a call for a more nuanced approach, one that reflects the shifting foundations on which British society is built. In short, eastern European migrants may come and go, but their collective impact on UK society will endure.
As Ziggy, who works at a Polish deli in west Ealing in London, acknowledges: "When I came in 1990, there were some Polish people living here, but not many. People would ask, 'Where are you from?' and I'd say, 'Poland', and most of the time people didn't know where that was. But since Poland joined the EU, more people are coming over and people know where it is. We're less interesting now."
