Poland's Labour Market is Becoming Increasingly Global

Our Analytical Centre at Gremi Personal has analysed and presented data on employment in the Polish market. According to the data, Ukrainians continue to make up the largest group of foreign nationals employed in Poland. However, the proportions are shifting. While the number of Ukrainian workers recorded in ZUS registers (749,100) in July was higher than in 2022, the difference amounted to only 13,300. Legal workers from other countries are arriving at a considerably faster pace — not only from European nations such as Belarus and Georgia, but also from India, the Philippines and Nepal. Hiring people from such distant locations brings more complications related to paperwork and relocation, but companies like Gremi Personal specialise in supporting tasks of this kind, taking the most challenging matters upon themselves.

A Changing Structure

The number of employed foreigners continues to grow — by the end of July, ZUS registers counted 1,098,000 of them. That is 40,200 more than in January and almost 73,000 more than in 2022. Workers from Ukraine contributed only marginally to this record. Their share among foreigners in ZUS registers fell from nearly 72% to 68.3%. The new record is driven by an influx of workers from other countries, including Belarus. In July, almost 122,700 Belarusians were working in Poland (or running a business) — 12,400 more than in January. According to ZUS statistics, at the end of Q2, Georgians (27,400) formed the third-largest group of foreigners covered by pension and disability insurance in Poland, after Ukrainians and Belarusians. An influx of workers from India is also clearly visible — not only in ZUS registers — with 18,600 legally working as of the end of June. In total, in 2022 people from as many as 150 countries were working in Poland, and by the end of December 2022, the share of foreigners in the overall workforce in Poland had reached 6.5%.

The Market is Still Hungry for People

Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians and Moldovans still make up the clear majority of foreigners on the Polish labour market — this is the effect of the amended Foreigners Act. However, the pool of available workers from countries covered by the simplified declaration procedure, which makes their employment easier and faster, is too small. It is considerably more difficult to bring in workers from Asia or Africa. — comments Damian Guzman, Deputy General Director of the international employment agency Gremi Personal. — Poland is propped up by foreign manual workers — employers seek them most often, and they are increasingly filling vacancies for which it is difficult today to find not only Poles, but also, for some time now, Ukrainians. This problem is growing in industries such as construction and manufacturing, and particularly in food processing, agriculture and — as every season — in the HoReCa sector. At the moment, obtaining a work permit is relatively easy, but at the same time we are dealing with a fairly high rate of visa refusals. For example, in the case of Asia, the refusal rate reaches around 20%. At the same time, foreigners from wealthier countries are not willing to work for minimum wage, which also narrows the pool of available workers. — Guzman adds.

Poland's Globalisation

The largest numbers of foreigners work in manufacturing, HoReCa, TSL, construction, trade and employment agencies — these sectors account for as many as three in four foreigners covered by social insurance at ZUS. They are most prevalent in the largest cities; besides the capital, these include Kraków, Gdańsk and Wrocław. A global labour market in Poland is becoming a reality, despite legislation that does nothing to make it easier. Paradoxically, this situation has been contributed to by Russian aggression against Ukraine, which halted the influx of workers so valued by the labour market. Today, the language of a foreman is increasingly English — no longer Russian. — Guzman concludes. Employers who some time ago got used to hiring Ukrainians must now come to terms with this reality. They now need to reach out to more distant labour markets. Gremi Personal helps them by ensuring that newly hired employees have no problems with paperwork or relocation, and that they quickly adapt to their new reality. We support them by adhering to the principle that they are our most important Clients in need of support and fair treatment. We describe how we work in our service descriptions: https://gremi-personal.com/oferta/