The number of foreign workers in Britain registered its largest ever decline in 2020, according to official figures.

Employment data unveiled by the Office for National Statistics showed there were 795,000 less foreign workers in the UK in Q4 last year compared to the year before.

The findings indicate the number of foreign residents, including those unemployed or economically inactive, fell by close to a million, Sky News reports.

The data comes at a time when the coronavirus crisis restrictions drove the economy into its biggest slump in three centuries.

As a result, the unemployment rate rose to a five-year high of 5.1% in the fourth quarter last year, as per the ONS figures.

The hospitality sector was particularly hard hit.

However, the ONS warned that the figures should be “used with caution”, as they stem from the usual survey of the labour market, rather than its immigration data, which has been suspended due to the crisis.

As such, the assumptions are founded on trends before the pandemic and the data collection method has altered.

Nevertheless, Jonathan Portes, professor of public policy at Kings College London told Reuters: "I have no doubt that we have seen an outflow of people that is unprecedented in recent history."

The figures show there were just over five million foreign workers in Britain in Q4 2020, down from 5.8 million in Q4 2019.

Workers in the UK who are from the EU made up the majority of the fall, declining by around half a million to 1.9 million.

Those from outside the EU dropped by almost 300,000 to around 3.1 million.

According to ONS data, the number of foreign workers in Britain hit a high of 5.9 million at the beginning of last year, before a steep decline.