Poland Has To Import Workers To Replace Polish Emigrants
Classified Polnews
Foreign investors in Poland and Polish companies cannot find enough workers to fill their needs. Polish companies are solving the problem by moving their companies East and foreign investors are importing workers.
Construction Companies
Need Workers
Polish unemployment is steadily decreasing. There are two main driving forces behind the decrease.
One is the continued mass emigration of Polish people to the West.
The other is the warming weather that has encouraged employers in construction related jobs to hire.
IT companies such as PC maker Dell , Japan's Sharp and LG.Philips LCD have flocked to Poland in recent years lured by a young, well-educated and cheap labour force in need of jobs. Source
Considering that in February 2007, Poland's unemployment rate for under-25s was the highest in Europe at 25.5% ( Source ) the decision might seem sound.
But Korean companies LG Philips LCD and LG Electronic, which are building large factories in Biskupice in Dolnoslaskie province, face difficulties recruiting staff. Prospective employees are not satisfied with the monthly salary of ZL1,400-1,600 which the companies is offering. The Koreans are considering employing workers from China. Source
The Ministry of Labor And Social Policy sees the problems and has prepared a bill to allow Polish companies to more easily hire foreigners.
The bill would allow Ukrainians, Russians and Bearusians to work in Poland for three months without a work permit. They would only need a written statement saying they had guaranteed employment.
And workers from India and China could work either individually or in groups, in specified sectors, such as the construction industry or agriculture. http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/gb/dokument.aspx?iid=50803
Polish companies are solving the problem their own way. They are moving their companies to where the workers are. Poland's Dziennik daily reports that more than 1,800 Polish companies have opted to invest in production facilities in Russia and Ukraine, according to a recent report .
The Prime Minister sees this as a short term problem. He said that he believes increased prosperity in Poland will attract many emigrants back home within the coming years. Source
But if his Government is importing cheap labor to hold wages down, where is the increased prosperity?
Some Polish emigrants see the problem differently.
They earn 4 to 10 times the amount of money in Western Europe than they do in Poland.
As one said, "I'm convinced I'll stay in England. Life is good, kids grow up normally. I have time to spend with my family that I don't have to spend struggling for money." http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007070962,00.html
And it is likely that those immigrants from the East who come to Poland will think the same when they compare life in Poland to the lives they have in their own countries.
