Sixty percent of Ukrainians with experience working abroad would opt for Poland as their destination for work, a new report has found.

Germany came second in the ranking, named by 17 percent of Ukrainian respondents surveyed by the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce.

Andrzej Drozd, deputy chairman of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, said: “Despite Polish employers’ fears concerning the opening of the German labour market to non-EU nationals, most Ukrainian economic migrants plan to work in Poland in the near future.”

Last year, Germany eased its immigration laws to attract workers from outside the EU in a drive to offset labour shortages.

Andrzej Korkus, chief of the EWL Group recruitment agency, said, “The Polish labour market continues to have a number of advantages over Western markets.”

According to Korkus, these include opportunities to work overtime to earn more and lower costs of living.

Its close proximity to Ukraine, combined with lower language and cultural barriers, gives Poland an added edge over the West, Korkus said.

However, 80 percent of Polish-based Ukrainians do not work in line with their qualifications, the Rzeczpospolita daily reported.

The study was carried out at the start of 2019 on a sample of 1,025 Ukrainians who have already had experience working abroad.

(aba/gs)

Source: Rzeczpospolita