The war in Ukraine affected many areas of life in Poland. Due to the help we offer to Ukrainians fleeing aggression, we are starting to observe changes in the housing market, as well as in the labor market. The employment of citizens who come to Poland fleeing the war is increasing. On the other hand, entrepreneurs also lose employees who return to a war-affected country. In Poland, foreigners from beyond the eastern border have been employed for many years, and the war has had a particularly negative impact on the sectors where men find employment.

UKRAINIAN REFUGEES AND WORK IN POLAND

The influx of Ukrainians fleeing the war to Poland had an impact on the labor market.
According to the Ministry of Family and Social Policy, nearly 100,000 people have found employment so far. Ukrainian citizens who came to Poland in connection with the war in their country. Most people found employment in the Mazowieckie voivodship, as well as in Greater Poland and Lower Silesia (6.5 thousand).
Most of the people were employed to perform simple jobs.
The vast majority of Ukrainian citizens who come to Poland are women and children. Therefore, a significant challenge will be to prepare an appropriate job offer for a large number of women, including those who look after children.
Almost 3 million refugees have already arrived in Poland, mainly women with children who are urgently looking for a job in order to have a source of income. At the same time, a large outflow of Ukrainian male workers is observed.
The reasons for the departure of Ukrainian citizens to their homeland are not only patriotic motivations, but also a bill recently introduced to the Ukrainian parliament stipulating that under the conditions of martial law, men subject to mobilization who are currently abroad and will not return to Ukraine may face 5-10 years prisons.

It is not only about the military defense of the country. Ukraine currently has problems with the functioning of critical infrastructure and logistics: there is a severe shortage of, for example, truck drivers to deliver food products to cities attacked by Russia.
Even at the very beginning of the war, we informed you that the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation would result in significant and permanent changes in the structure of migration from Ukraine and on the Polish labor market. Since February 24, over half a million men have left Poland, half of them are employees from the construction industry and truck drivers

Currently, the Polish government is preparing a number of legal solutions to facilitate employment for people from Ukraine. The law “on helping Ukrainian citizens” legalizes the stay of refugees in Poland, giving them the right to work
The example of legalizing the stay and work of refugees from Ukraine shows that the lack of bureaucracy does not create threats to Poland, but gives enormous opportunities, and the Polish labor market needs a more open migration policy, in particular towards further countries from Asia and Africa.

POLAND NEEDS MEN TO WORK

Job offers are flooded with classifieds websites. After the spring frostbite of the economy, many industries are still short of workforce.
It turns out that it is not IT specialists, but manual workers who dominate the rankings of the most sought-after on the market.
The high demand for manual and production workers directly contributed to the record increase in offers, which we are observing this year in key market categories

The rapid increase in the pool of recruitment advertisements for male positions does not go hand in hand with the rapid increase in the number of men willing to take up a job.
Unfortunately, there are no men in the labor market in Poland.

despite the fact that the number of professionally active men is growing, it is not at such a pace as to cover the huge number of jobs waiting to be filled. at present, in virtually every industry, we observe a deficit of men willing to work and able to do much harder work than ladies. Currently, the largest number of unfilled vacancies is recorded in the industries related to metalworking, logistics and production, as well as in all positions related to manual work and specialist authorizations.
Even before the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Poland was struggling with staff shortages in sectors for male workers. Staff shortages in numerous industries were noted as early as 2021, when out of 40 deficit occupations as many as 25 occupations are dedicated to men. Shortage occupations include works such as concrete mixers, steel fixers, pavers, carpenters, construction carpenters, roofers and tinsmiths, electro-mechanics, storekeepers, mechanics, construction installation fitters, bricklayers, plasterers, earthmoving operators and mechanics, construction workers, processing workers wood, carpenters, welders and locksmiths. The solutions proposed by experts for the growing deficit of men to work in Poland include the recruitment of couples, especially foreigners. This is especially possible in industries where female workers account for a certain percentage. Due to the shortage of staff, employees can expect higher wages to start and the possibility of working overtime, which allows them to earn higher earnings.

Therefore, it is worth constantly monitoring the situation on the labor market in Poland. Nevertheless, the development and rapid economic growth after the two-year restrictions related to COVID undoubtedly opened a number of opportunities for employees, mainly male, to the physical profession.