Fifty-nine percent of Ukrainians working in Poland have said they would leave the country if the German labour market opened up to them, the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily reported citing a new study.

Such a scenario “would deepen Poland's labour shortages from 150,000 vacancies to 500,000,” Maciej Witucki, CEO of human resources company Work Service, which conducted the study, was quoted by the daily as saying.

“Many people have argued that should the Polish and German labour market compete [for Ukrainian workers], Poland would have an advantage in terms of geographical and linguistic closeness,” Witucki told Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

“Unfortunately, our research has shown that these factors are at the bottom of the list of reasons why Ukrainians pick Poland for work. Higher salaries play a key role … and these are still several times higher in Germany than on the Polish market,” Witucki added.

“Many people have argued that should the Polish and German labour market compete [for Ukrainian workers], Poland would have an advantage in terms of geographical and linguistic closeness,” Witucki told Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

“Unfortunately, our research has shown that these factors are at the bottom of the list of reasons why Ukrainians pick Poland for work. Higher salaries play a key role … and these are still several times higher in Germany than on the Polish market,” Witucki added.

The study also found that nearly eight out of ten Ukrainian migrants said they were happy with the working conditions in Poland. Eighty-four percent of them said they would recommend working in Poland to their friends and family, the paper said.

But, more than two out of three of the respondents said they were working below their qualifications, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna added.

“This means that the potential of people entering [the Polish] labour market is not fully tapped,” Maciej Witucki told the daily. “We need to remember that there is a growing workforce deficit in Poland also in the case of specialised jobs,” he added.

Seventy-five percent of those questioned said they would like to stay in Poland for two, three years.

(aba/vb)

Source: Dziennik Gazeta Prawna