Economics
Brexit’s New Paradox: How to Build an Economy With Fewer People
The U.K. only wants highly skilled workers now, but construction companies say that’s not enough to fulfill big infrastructure projects.
Cranes stand on the city skyline in Birmingham.
Photographer: Darren Staples/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
David Ellis took a walk around a half-built skyscraper towering above Birmingham, a British metropolis dotted with the winking red lights of construction site cranes.
As he watched a team of workers installing glass panels, the full implications of the U.K.’s exit from the European Union and its free flow of goods, services and—critically—people, suddenly struck him.