Poland is short of Ukrainians: migration rates have slowed significantly

Companies in Poland are experiencing an increasing labour shortage due to the slowdown in the inflow of Ukrainians to the country, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on 5 August, citing data from Credit Agricole Bank.

In total, 1.16 million foreigners work in Poland, which is 11 times more than 10 years ago, Rzeczpospolita reports. Poland is home to the largest number of Ukrainians among all EU countries.

At the end of 2021, about 650,000 Ukrainians had residence permits in Poland. Due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, by the end of 2023, about 955,000 Ukrainians found themselves in Poland as refugees, many of them children.

Sectors that typically employ immigrants, such as logistics, manufacturing, transport and construction, are now increasingly experiencing staff shortages, and "the situation may worsen," Rzeczpospolita reports.

"The space for further inflows of labour from abroad is already limited" as the potential for immigration from Ukraine is "slowly being exhausted", Rzeczpospolita said.

It is also expected that the Polish government will tighten immigration policy for workers from outside Europe, which will further complicate the problem, Rzeczpospolita added.

Polish Ambassador to Kyiv Jaroslaw Guzy said in March that although Warsaw is "absolutely neutral" on whether Ukrainians should stay or return home, "Ukrainians are very important from the point of view of the Polish labour market."

Background. As a reminder, Poland is preparing to provide Ukraine with the 45th military aid package since the beginning of Russia's invasion, and is also considering the possibility of transferring MiG-29s to Kyiv, said former Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Zvarych.