High employment rates in Britain explain why new jobs are being filled by migrants, experts say

Employment levels in Britain are at an all-time high, fuelled by the biggest surge of foreign-born workers since the expansion of the European Union.

The number of people in work increased by 454,000 between July and September last year and the same period this year. Workers born overseas made up nearly 95 per cent of the increase — just over 430,000.

The rise in foreign-born workers accounting for jobs growth is the largest since 2004 when eight eastern European states joined the EU, setting off one of the biggest waves of immigration in British history. In other years since then, however, a higher proportion of jobs growth went to workers born overseas.

Yesterday’s figures will raise concern at the apparent reliance of British industry on