Polish unemployment is high but there is a labor shortage
Warsaw, Poland March 22, 2006 Unemployment in Poland has been hovering between 17 and 18% for a long period of time. Even though there is high unemployment in Poland, companies in many industries from the IT sector to the construction industry are complaining of a labor shortage.
As the labor markets in the European Union open, Polish workers are leaving the country in large numbers to find better opportunities in the European Union.
Polish workers have gained a reputation of being good, hard and talented workers and have been welcomed by the countries that have opened their labor markets to them. These Polish workers have found that they can make three, four and five times the amount of money that they can make in Poland under better work conditions and that their efforts are highly appreciated by their employers.
With the opening of the labour market in Spain it is expected that there will be another large exodus of talented Poles to the warm climate of Spain that offers many opportunities - in particular opportunities in the tourist industry.
The European Union is also pressing for other countries to open their markets to Eastern European workers. If any other markets open it can be expected that more Poles will head west for better income opportunities.
The construction industry is being hit particularly hard at the present time. Construction industry specialists such as highly trained welders are in short supply in Poland. They have found that they can make as much money in three months in the European Union as they can in one year in Poland.
People in the construction industry do not only go to those countries where the labor markets are open to Polish workers. Many people in the construction industry have found employment in Germany where the labor market is legally closed to Polish workers under European rules.
The official Polish government position is that this emigration of Polish workers to the European Union is not a brain drain. Their position is that these people will be trained in European Union, will earn money, and will return to Poland and start businesses in Poland. Their position is that rather than being a brain drain it is a brain gain because the Polish workers will be educated in their new jobs and bring new experiences back to Poland.
The Polish government is, of course, interested in having Polish people leave Poland now to work in the European Union because their departure helps the unemployment problem in Poland. Sending these Polish workers West reduces the number of people in Poland who are seeking jobs.
While a labor shortage exists, unemployment is high in Poland. And in its evaluation of the Lisbon agreement the European Union figured Poland as a villain. It pointed out that Poland, among other things, has the lowest rate of employment in the European Union.
It would appear that with a high a unemployment rate in the country, there should be no unemployment problem. There should be no labor shortage. But there are those who claim that government policies discourage people from wanting to work and disparage companies from hiring people.
Poland is currently carrying on quite well, economically speaking. It has attracted several new factories and firms that will open in Poland and to employ a broadly another 20,000 people. But 20,000 people is not many in the overall scheme of Polish unemployment. And the question arises, if there is a labor shortage of skilled people being experienced by companies here already, will these companies experienced a similar labor shortage.
The way to attract people is to pay them well and to treat them well. If the people will have emigrated to the European Union find life better in the European Union, one would expect that they will stay there and not return to Poland. To entice them to return to Poland there will have to beat a change in the pay scales and the working conditions offered to these people.
How long it will take the post government and companies in Poland to understand that the workers have to be treated better, and that companies have to be given the the ability to treat workers better without government interference? Will it take a serious labor shortage and this starts affecting the economy before they take action?
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