Economic immigrants from East want to stay in Poland: report

Although many employees from our eastern neighbors are interested in working in Germany, an increasing number of employees plan to stay on the Vistula River. As the authors of the report "Foreign worker in the era of a pandemic" point out, prepared by EWL and the Study of Eastern Europe of the University of Warsaw, the vast majority, as much as 79 percent. foreigners staying in Poland for work purposes, intends to recommend work in our country to their relatives. For comparison, only 2.5 percent. respondents replied that they would definitely not recommend Poland to family members or friends. Moreover, as many as nine out of ten foreigners declare that they are satisfied with their stay here - be it temporarily or permanently.

By far the largest group of economic immigrants are - not surprisingly - Ukrainians (as much as 89.7 percent of all foreigners legally working in Poland). Belarusians are in second place with 3.8 percent. The third largest group are Moldovans (3.4%), and the fourth largest group are Georgians (2%). Immigrants from other countries constitute only 1.1 percent.

During the coronavirus pandemic, foreigners in Poland encountered similar problems as other employees. 39 percent of respondents admit that the situation caused by the pandemic forced them to change jobs, and mostly also to change the industry (32%). As emphasized in an interview with EURACTIV.pl, Analotij Zymnin from EWL, this phenomenon resulted from changes in the situation in individual industries due to the pandemic, e.g. the car industry and hotel industry suffered significant losses as a result of the crisis, while the e-commerce sector strengthened .

Despite the difficult situation, immigration to Poland did not stop, emphasizes Zymnin. According to the data collected in the report, even before the outbreak of the pandemic, 31 percent were willing to work in another country. respondents. Currently, it is only 19 percent.

However, not all recruitment processes enjoy the same interest of our eastern neighbors. Fearing for their own safety, Ukrainians avoid employment in places that are in the red or yellow zones. There are even 11 times fewer candidates for work in these regions than in places where epidemic restrictions are not in force.

“Aversion to risk and concern for one's own safety is a natural attitude in the face of the prevailing epidemic. Therefore, it is not surprising that Ukrainian workers prefer to avoid working in red zones. Especially since for them, as people from outside our country, it is not obvious why a given region is in the yellow or red zone,” Krzysztof Inglot, President of Personnel Service added.

(EURACTIV.pl, WBJ)