Romanian and Bulgarian immigrant workers might be unwanted by the British public, but they are in high demand from British employers, with almost 48,000 UK jobs offered on a careers website in Romania last year.
Tjobs, Romania's largest foreign jobs website, advertised 47,832 jobs in the UK last year.
More than 90% of those jobs were for skilled workers, from cooks to housekeepers, to taxi drivers to healthcare assistants, doctors and architects. Only the remaining 10% were for unskilled labourers.
Many of the jobs advertised by the Romanian website were in elderly care
Recruitment agent Brindusa Deac, who works for the company in Romania, told HuffPost UK: "There is certainly a huge gap between what your government wants, and what public opinion wants, and what British employers want. They need the skills of Romanian workers, you need them for the economy."
The statistics come as the UK government reportedlyconsiders launching a negative advertising campaign in Romania and Bulgaria, to deter them from seeking jobs in Britain once the countries join the European Union.
"I don't think an employer in Britain minds what nationality they employ, they want the best candidate for the cheapest wage legally possible. And Romanians will probably earn less than a Briton in the same position.
"There seems to me to be a lack of communication between the government and employers," Deac told HuffPost UK.
Around 40% of the jobs offered on the website are for healthcare staff, most for elderly careworkers for both private and state-run care homes.
Deac said: "We have had adverts for doctors in every area of medicine, nurses, but many elderly care workers. As the ageing population grows, you need these workers in Britain. I don't know why, but British people might not want to do these jobs.
Some of the jobs advertised are seasonal, three to six month contracts, but contracts for highly skilled workers run for at least a year.
Many of the employers require candidates "urgently", and need someone within a month. Others have a recruitment process of up to six months for highly skilled candidates.
Deac said it was a similar situation across Europe: "In France and Germany, they need skilled electricians, they do not have enough. They need Eastern European workers."
The temporary restrictions on immigrants from the two newest EU member states expire in December.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has admitted the influx would "cause problems" with services such as housing, with the highest numbers likely to pick London boroughs which already have significant populations from the countries.
However, he insisted it was not "reasonable" to assume that 300,000 would move to the UK - the figure suggested by some Tories based on migration levels after Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Lithuania acceded.
The government has confirmed it will not seek to extend temporary curbs on 29 million Romanian and Bulgarian nationals' right to live and work in Britain, which are due to expire in December.