Eastern Europeans ó over here, over qualified and underpaid

New research released today reveals that the vast majority of Eastern Europeans living and working in the UK are highly qualified yet vastly underpaid. The latest research compiled by Fusion Magazine, the leading magazine for Central and Eastern Europeans living and working in the UK, highlights this massive disparity. According to the results

- 77% are qualified to either degree or postgraduate level
- 76% speak very good English

And yet

- 46% earn under 20,000 per annum and
- Catering/hospitality is the biggest employment category
The implications are clear ó most people are not using their qualifications and working in the poorly paid hospitality sector to make ends meet.

Mark Goddard, MD of Fusion Magazine, laments the disparity. ìIt is a shame that this vast pool of highly qualified talent is being overlooked for the better paid jobs,î he said. ìAs well as the obvious and well-documented construction and catering roles, their skills range from clerical to engineers, medical, teaching and accountants. We have some fantastic, highly qualified, very able Eastern European employees here at Fusion, and it is disappointing that some employers still find it hard to distance themselves from the stereotypical image of Eastern Europeans.î

Another interesting statistic to come out of the research is that a massive 64% of readers are currently not on the worker registration scheme. This means that there are considerably more CEE residents residing in the UK than the official 345,000 quoted by the Government.