Bulgarians, Romanians Working in Britain Increase to 266,000 in Q2 2016  

There were 266,000 Bulgarians and Romanians employed in the UK in the second quarter of 2016 – an increase of around 87,000 compared with the same period a year earlier, the BBC reported on Wednesday, citing data of the Office for National Statistics.

Citizens from Bulgaria and Romania have been able to work without restrictions across the EU since January 2014. The two countries joined the bloc in 2007.

There were an estimated 944,000 employees from the remaining EU member states in the UK from April to June 2016.

The number of UK workers from eight other eastern European states which joined the EU in the 2004 wave of enlargement has topped one million for the first time, the BBC said.

From April to June, there were 44,000 more workers from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia employed in the UK compared to the second quarter of last year.

Ovrerall, there were 2.23 million EU nationals working in the UK - an increase of 238,000 year-on-year. 

Immigration was seen as a key issue ahead of the referendum on Britain's membership of the EU in June. The Leave side won the vote by 52% to 48%.

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