It is clear that the post-war Labour government was not enthusiastic at the prospect of recruiting substantial numbers of colonial workers even though post-war reconstruction and economic recovery was being held back by a desperate shortage of labour. In fact the government was making considerable efforts to recruit European workers from a variety of sources. German ex-prisoners of war were being persuaded to stay on, workers were being recruited from the displaced persons camps in Germany and also from Italy. Migration from Ireland was also occurring on a substantial scale.
Ireland continued to be a major source of labour for the British economy. Irish workers were recruited for civilian jobs during the war and substantial uncontrolled immigration continued during the 1950s and the 1960s. But European sources of labour were quickly absorbed and in fact were offset by the emigration of Britons to Commonwealth countries, especially Australia, and also to the United States.
Some colonial governments, particularly Jamaica, believed that British manpower requirements could be met by recruiting workers in those colonies which suffered high levels of unemployment, and pressed their views on the British government. In October 1948 an inter-departmental working party was established to:
Inquire into the possibilities of employing in the United Kingdom surplus manpower of certain colonial territories in order to assist the manpower situation in this country and to relieve unemployment in those colonial territories.
The Committee did not consider there was much scope for further labour recruitment and considered colonial labour less attractive than European Volunteer labour as the latter was subject to more stringent controls. It was also concerned that colonial labour might find unemployment benefits so generous that they would not bother to seek work.