In the coming years, Warsaw is ready to accept up to 5 million citizens of the neighboring country
As Novye Izvestia reports citing Focus, labor migration statistics indicate a large migration of Eastern Slavs. While in 2014 Ukrainians received 373,000 work permits, in 2015 it was already 517,000, and in 2016, 1.3 million migrants entered Poland for work. However, Warsaw needs 5 million!
• By the way, it is best to start looking for work in Poland in advance, while still at home. Various online resources can be used for this. For example, the website https://www.eurabota.ua/poland/waiter-bartender offers a convenient search for current vacancies in Poland. Specialists of various profiles, from waiters to construction workers, can find work here.
Polish entrepreneur Jan, who owns a small sewing workshop near Rzeszów, hires seamstresses exclusively from among Ukrainian women. "I can pay a seamstress a maximum of 1,200 zlotys net (276 euros), I can't manage more. This is less than the official minimum wage, so I have to register people for part-time employment. Polish women do not want to work under such conditions," the businessman says.
According to him, the situation worsened last year when the government introduced the "500+" program – a payment of 500 zlotys per month for each child. "For local women, considering the cost of kindergarten and travel to work, it's easier to stay at home. For Ukrainians, a thousand zlotys and free housing are normal conditions. When their visa expires, they ask me if I liked their work and if I will take them next year," Jan boasts of his personnel policy.
Both Polish authorities and businesses understand that they cannot survive without Ukrainians. The fact is that Poland is facing a massive outflow of workers to the "old Europe" states: according to national statistics, since joining the EU, 2.4 million people have left the country with a population of 38 million. The outflow continues even now, because the average salary in Poland (980 euros in 2016) is 3.2 times less than the average salary in the UK.
Theoretically, about 9% of Poles out of 23 million working-age people are unemployed. But more than half of them are "professional" unemployed who have done nothing for over 20 years. Among other things, the Polish population is aging. According to official forecasts, by 2060 the working-age population will shrink from the current 60% to 48%. There is no hope for an increase in the birth rate here, as in other European countries.
According to the president of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers of Poland, Cezary Kaźmierczak, 100,000 new workers of Polish origin, which the new "Pole's Card" law will help attract, is extremely few. For Poland to maintain its economic growth rate, the country needs to accept 5 million Ukrainians for permanent residence, with at least 1 million in the next five years.
So far, this is not allowed by employment rules. Relatively simply, based solely on an employer's application, Ukrainians can only obtain permission for temporary work – up to 6 months per year. "Currently, a Ukrainian in Poland lives like an ascetic, saving on everything. In six months, he must accumulate funds to support his family for the whole year. If the 'paperwork' procedures were simplified, workers would bring their families to Poland and stay here forever," says Kaźmierczak.
By the way, according to his calculations, if Ukrainian workers finally moved to Poland, it would allow the budget to receive an additional 9 billion zlotys per year – from their taxes, social payments, and VAT on goods they purchase.
Polish authorities are already thinking about easing bureaucratic rules. "We are interested in the possibilities of including migration policy in the strategy of economic development," says Jerzy Kwieciński, Deputy Minister of Development of Poland. According to him, the existing system for issuing work permits for more than 6 months may be relaxed for people under 35 with a profession in demand on the Polish labor market.
However, despite the shortage of personnel, it is not so easy for Ukrainians to find decent work. The main problem migrants face is wages below the statutory minimum wage and lack of guarantees from the employer.
Polish legislation reliably protects workers' rights – it is practically impossible to terminate an employment contract early at the initiative of the employer. Therefore, companies prefer not to enter into employment relationships with ordinary employees, but to hire them under civil law contracts, the so-called "umowa zlecenie". Such a document formally assumes only occasional, hourly work and does not protect the worker. In reality, one has to work more than 200 hours a month, and the hourly rate is less than 8 zlotys net per hour, guaranteed by law. But proving a violation of one's rights is practically impossible. According to the documents, the employee worked only a few hours a day, and after the first complaint, he is simply not allowed into the workplace.
However, the average salary in Ukraine of 5,400 hryvnias (180 euros) is almost half even compared to the minimum 1,500 zlotys (345 euros) that a Polish employer is obliged to pay net to the employee. So an influx of new labor is guaranteed, notes the online resource Focus.