News

SYNTHESIS

• The number of migrants is growing steadily worldwide and they represent an increasing proportion of the global population. In 2020, as many as 280 million people will have lived outside their countries of origin for at least one year. Compared to 1990, the number of migrants increased by 83.4 per cent.
• The total number of immigrants in Poland can be estimated at around 3.5-4 million, of which 60-75 per cent are Ukrainians. Especially the last years with the war in Ukraine have brought a significant upward trend in immigration with a (slow) decline in emigration. Other important countries of origin of migrants from a labour market perspective include Belarus, Georgia, India and Moldova.
• Since 2008, a significant trend has been an increase in the proportion of migrants - refugees arriving in Europe from African and Middle Eastern countries. Poland is a border country of the European Union on the route of migrants from Asia and Africa smuggled into the EU from Belarus as part of the hybrid war. It therefore faces not only the problem of direct illegal immigration, but also (as the 'first safe country' in the EU) the challenge of returning migrants from other EU countries under the readmission procedure. It is necessary to strengthen the fight against illegal migration.
• The number of work permits for foreigners in Poland is increasing, largely in occupations where there is a shortage of workers in our country. At the same time, many foreigners feel that they are working in Poland 'below their qualifications', which is largely related to the language barrier. Foreigners staying in Poland have an educational structure that is favourable from the point of view of the labour market - among migrants in general, according to pre-war estimates, about 36 per cent had a tertiary education, while in the group of refugees and migrants from Ukraine this indicator varies between 46 and 50 per cent.
• In Europe, including Poland, there are contradictory trends in migration policy. On the one hand, the ageing of Western societies and declining fertility rates and the associated labour market deficits will favour the liberalisation of migration law, while on the other hand, frustration with the difficulties of integration for some migrants causing an increase in anti-globalisation tendencies.
• Poland has not developed a clear immigration policy. Immigration is an opportunity to partially solve demographic and labour market problems. This requires an accurate and effective migration policy, and currently there is no such policy. Under the guise of flexibility and the need to respond to current challenges, the government is retreating from working on strategic documents. Without an apt (which does not mean: rigid) migration policy, Poland will lose the battle for scarce human resources to countries in the West and East that are better organised in this area.
• Poland's immigration policy should introduce a mechanism for selecting immigrants based on labour market analysis. Other necessary instruments are the development of educational programmes, the recognition of qualifications and the promotion of entrepreneurship among migrants.
• Poland's immigration policy should not offer special privileges to immigrants vis-à-vis their hosts, especially in the context of social benefits. It is also crucial to strengthen procedures for returning illegal immigrants and to deepen cooperation with migrants' countries of origin in order to better understand the causes of migration and to develop more effective strategies for its management.

 

Migration: Poland's (so far) untapped opportunity - a full text in Polish