The number of immigrant workers registered as employed in Poland grew rapidly last year, despite the pandemic. In December 2020, there were 725,173 foreigners registered in the country’s social insurance system (ZUS), 11.3% more than a year earlier.
That increase – of almost 100,000 workers – as well as a further rise of 40,000 in the first quarter of this year represents a “record pace” of growth, according to the Rzeczpospolita daily.
In recent years, immigration to Poland had already been at levels unprecedented in the country’s history, and among the highest in the European Union.
The number of foreigners registered with ZUS has been growing throughout the pandemic, notes Rzeczpospolita. Last July, separate data on residence permits also showed that numbers had increased in the first half of the year, despite Poland closing its borders for much of that time.
But the figures grew even faster in the second half of 2020, and have accelerated further this year, reports the newspaper.
However, “the actual number of foreigners employed in Poland is much greater than those entered in the ZUS registers”, notes Sebastian Koćwin, deputy leader of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ).
A comprehensive estimate by Statistics Poland (GUS), a government agency, last year gave a figure of more than two million foreigners living in Poland at the end of 2019. That figure is now likely to be even higher.
Koćwin told Rzeczpospolita that this “disturbing trend…may be the effect of replacing Polish workers with cheaper foreigners”. However, Poland has the EU’s lowest unemployment rate, of 3.1%, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.
“The increased employment of foreigners is a response to the labour market shrinking due to demographic reasons and the ageing of our society,” said Łukasz Kozłowski of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, quoted by the newspaper.
“There is no question of [foreigners] replacing [Polish workers],” agreed Monika Fedorczuk of the Lewiatan Confederation, an employers’ group.
“Foreigners are currently employed in industries where workers are needed that are not available on local markets, such as in construction and production,” Fedorczuk added. “The advantages of foreigners are qualifications and high mobility. Meanwhile, Poles are reluctant to move between cities and provinces.”
Among the foreigners registered with ZUS, 73.4% are Ukrainian. Immigrants from Poland’s eastern neighbour have made up a large majority of the workers who have moved to Poland in recent years.
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna
