# Foreign Nationals Accounted for 80% of UK Payroll Growth Since 2014

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/34652
Published: 2026-10-19T07:50:18.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-19T07:50:18.000Z
Section: Business

> Non-EU nationals held about 2.5 million of roughly 3.7 million additional payrolled positions through December 2025.

Foreign nationals held roughly four-fifths of the net increase in UK payrolled positions from 2014 through December 2025, a shift concentrated among non-EU workers and accelerated after 2020.

About 2.5 million of the roughly 3.7 million additional positions were held by non-EU nationals. EU nationals accounted for another 408,000, while British nationals accounted for 734,000. The rounded figures put the combined foreign-national share at close to 80% of the net gain.

The totals describe net changes in payroll positions by nationality. They do not show who filled each individual opening, so the figures alone cannot establish that a particular group of workers replaced another. British nationals still held most payrolled jobs in December 2025: 25.6 million of roughly 32 million.

The change was more pronounced from January 2020. Non-EU nationals held about 2.1 million more payroll positions, while the number held by British nationals fell by roughly 186,000 and the number held by EU nationals declined by 352,000. The regional pattern varied: since 2020, non-EU payroll positions rose in all 12 UK regions and nations, while British nationals’ positions fell in nine.

London saw the sharpest shifts among the regions described. Non-EU payroll positions there increased by 465,200 after 2020, while positions held by British nationals fell by 26,500 and those held by EU nationals fell by 171,100. Scotland recorded a 53,000 decline in British-held positions and a 130,200 increase in non-EU-held positions. In the South East, British-held positions fell by 31,700 as non-EU-held positions rose by 284,500.

Four sectors accounted for about two-thirds of the non-EU increase since 2014. Health and social work represented 29% of that gain, administrative and support services 16%, accommodation and food 12%, and wholesale and retail 10%.

Overseas hiring in care expanded earlier in the period: about 57,700 care and senior care workers received skilled-worker visas in the year through March 2023, and 99% of sponsored care workers in 2022 came from outside the EU. Net migration later fell to 171,000 in 2025 from 331,000 a year earlier. Work-related arrivals of non-EU nationals declined 47% to about 146,000 after rule changes that included closing the overseas care-worker route.

The payroll count ends in December 2025, covering only part of the effect of restrictions introduced in 2024 and 2025.