In an interview with The Guardian, Milliband highlighted construction as a problem area and said Labour would take steps to reform current recruitment practices.
He said: “There has been a collision of a large amount of immigration from eastern Europe and a UK labour market that is frankly too often nasty, brutish and short-term.
“If you need a builder, it is good that there are more coming into the country and lowering the price of construction, but if you are a British builder it is less beneficial.”
Policies put forward by Labour include regulating employment agencies so they cannot advertise they have only foreign workers on their books and an early warning system so that job centres councils and national government can identify sectors like construction where the workforce is dominated by low wage labour from other countries.