Brexit's no quick fix for higher wages and better skills

"It’s also not necessarily low skilled. It can be about soft skills, knowing how to engage with someone in emotional distress, being a good communicator,” says John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank. “Having a lot of low skilled migrants coming into a sector like social might depress wages slightly but it might also dramatically improve older people’s experience of care.”

...“In some ways Brexit doesn’t help. We’re less attractive as a place to invest in for some companies because of more trade barriers with the rest of the EU,” says Springford. “The UK government is doing some good things, it’s investing more in science. There’s a higher target for UK R&D expenditure, but it’s going to have to do quite a lot to overcome some of the headwinds from Brexit.”