[Petrochemicals (OP)]

Something occurs to me amidst all of the worker shortages, carehome funding and price rises, the cost of accommodation has overtaken our ability to pay wages. With basic rent at 500pm outside london and a basic mortgage at 750, out of a  wage of 1500 before stoppages ,  is there really any wonder no one wants to stand in a farmers field in mid November rain.

[alancalverd]

This was the essence of part of the Brexit debate. Until the accession of the eastern nations, the cost of living across the EU was fairly consistent. But the cost of essentials like food and housing had always been very low in the ex-communist states, and remained so. It was therefore sensible for, say a Romanian laborer to work in the UK at a rate of pay that could not cover a UK mortgage, and send his wages back home where they would buy three times as much as here. And not just unskilled labor: I was able to hire medical consultants for less than I would have to pay a UK student.

It isn't a question of not wanting to stand in a field in the rain: no Brit can afford to.