Poland is no longer able to meet its own needs for highly qualified personnel. The unemployment rate in the country is 14.1%, but almost half of Polish firms are desperately looking for qualified staff. This also applies to international corporations that are currently making large investments in the promising Polish market.
The constantly growing demand for specialists is encountering a shrinking supply. According to recent population surveys, every second Pole aged 18 to 24 plans to leave for work in Western EU countries, where wage levels are on average five times higher than in Poland. The most serious staffing difficulties are faced by the construction industry, which increasingly cannot complete ordered projects on time. When recently another delay in the construction schedule of the new German embassy building in Warsaw was looming, the responsible firm said in its defense: 'What do you expect? All our employees have gone to work in Germany or Great Britain.' According to unofficial estimates, since Poland joined the EU in 2004, two million citizens have left the country.
The acute shortage of qualified personnel in Eastern Europe also has a positive side: it increases the chances of finding work for well-educated and experienced specialists from abroad, particularly from Germany. According to the economic department of the Polish embassy in Berlin, between 10,000 and 20,000 German specialists are already working on the banks of the Vistula. And more and more Germans are considering working in Poland and sending their applications to companies in Warsaw, Krakow, and Szczecin.