Main motives, wage gap and quantity of Ukrainian guest workers are rapidly changing
A new piece of data on Ukrainian labour migrants reported by the National Bank of Poland:
- the main motive for labour migration to Poland remains the wage gap between two countries;
- circulating migration dominates among workers from Ukraine ( it is accompanied by frequent temporary returns to the homeland), the average immigrant works in Poland for about 7 months a year;
- among workers there is an increase in interest in more complete integration (the demand for long-term visas and long-term labour contracts is growing), but the process is constrained by the inefficiency of the system for issuing long-term visas (the most common problem that immigrants complain about);
- the profile of Ukrainians coming to Poland is changing rapidly, on the Polish labour market you can increasingly find:
people from the centre and east of Ukraine;
residents of medium and large Ukrainian cities;
young people coming to work in Poland for the first time due to the attractiveness of the Polish labour market (the tax benefits for young people), as well as the development of immigration network in Poland and the active work of employment agencies in Ukraine;
- the wage gap between citizens of Poland and Ukraine is narrowing; today, migrant workers receive 20% lower than the Poles;
- there is a reorientation of labour immigration. From 15% to 27% of respondents announced plans to go to work in another country within two years - Germany (about 60%), the Czech Republic, Canada or the Scandinavian countries (competition for the Ukrainian worker is growing);
- 55% of Ukrainian immigrants send money to Ukraine, the average transfer is 6300 zlotys (about 1600 USD);
- Today, about 900 000 citizens of Ukraine work in Poland.
SOURCE: 112 International
