100 days after EU expansion, U.K. data shows no 'onslaught' of jobseekers from new member states; Ireland notes ten-fold increase in job applicants

Some 100 days after the "big bang" expansion of the European Union on the first of May from 15 to 25 member states, British and Irish officials have released data confirming that fears of an onslaught of jobseekers from the relatively poor accession countries were unfounded. Along with Sweden, the U.K. and Ireland were the only old EU members fully open to jobseekers from the new member states. Fewer than 8,200 people from countries joined Britain's work registry in May and June, according to government figures, and 14,000 people from the accession states already living there legalised their status. Ireland saw a far greater per-capita increase with almost 23,000 people from the member states seeking employment there in the past three months, or around 10 times the number of work permits issued to people from the same countries in the first four months of 2004, reports Ireland online.