Most Ukrainian workers go to Poland for one-three months – survey

Head of the Rating sociological group Oleksiy Antypovych says the majority of Ukrainian migrants (60%) go to work in Poland for a short period of time, that is one or three months.

"Some 60% of Ukrainians working in Poland stay there from one to three months. This shows that our fellow citizens go to work for a short period of time," he said at a press conference hosted by UNIAN on March 27. Antypovych presented the findings of a sociological survey conducted for Poland's Personnel Service among 400 Ukrainians who have worked in Poland for the last five years.

Read alsoA mere 4% of Ukrainian workers in Poland engaged in intellectual work – pollAntypovych also said that almost 60% of respondents went to work in Poland about three times, a quarter of respondents went there to earn money only once, 16% of Ukrainian workers were in Poland over five times and a mere 7% of Ukrainians work there on a permanent basis.

According to the expert, 77% of Ukrainians in Poland are engaged in physical jobs, 16% work in the service sector, 3% perform intellectual work, and 1% occupy managerial positions.

"Most Ukrainians choose two fields for work in Poland, namely agriculture (34%), and construction and repairs (32%). Some 8% of them are involved in housework, 7% in the restaurant business, and 5% in care for the elderly," Antypovych added.

In his words, about 62% of Ukrainian labor migrants plan to work in Poland and only 11% of them expect to stay there forever.

According to the study, 53% of Ukrainians choose Poland as a country for employment due its geographical proximity, 44% because of desire to earn money, and 34% due to a low language barrier.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) increased the estimate of private money transfers to Ukraine in 2017 by $2 billion, to $9.3 billion, or 8.4% of GDP, due to the improvement of the calculation methodology.

Read alsoUkrainian workers' money transfers from Poland equal 4% of Ukraine's GDP in 2017According to updated data, the money transfers in 2017 rose by 24%, or $1.8 billion, against 2016.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Bartosz Cichocki says Ukrainians working in Poland sent 12 billion zlotys to Ukraine in 2017, which equals 3% or 4% of Ukraine's GDP.

According to the Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the country has been losing about UAH 40 billion since 2015 annually due to the migration of Ukrainians abroad.

Over 1 million Ukrainians in 2015-2017 went abroad to work, including Poland (507,000 people), Russia (343,000), Italy (147,000), the Czech Republic (122,000), the United States (23,000) and Belarus (22,000), according to Bloomberg.

The National Bank of Ukraine forecasts the growth of labor migration in the coming years in connection with the introduction of visa-free travel, a change in Poland's labor legislation and an increasing number of students who study abroad.