Most of Ukrainians who leave Ukraine for Poland for employment are young with higher or vocational education.
Such conclusions were drawn in a sociological study conducted by the Polish Gremi personal outsourcing company in partnership with the Ukrainian VoxPopuli sociological agency.
According to the study whose results are given in a press release of the Polish company, 36% of Ukrainian workers have higher education, another 41% have vocational or specialized secondary education. Every fifth Ukrainian held a senior position in Ukraine.
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"Most of the migrants, or 60%, come from the central and eastern regions of Ukraine, while three or four years ago, Ukrainians traveled to Poland mostly from the western regions. In addition, Ukrainian migration has significantly rejuvenated – the average age of the employee is 34.5 years," the study says.
In Poland, Ukrainians primarily work in manufacturing (50%) and in the service sector or in construction (17-18%). Only 10% of Ukrainians are involved in agriculture.
"An outflow of qualified and educated Ukrainians will continue. In Poland, they are ready to work below their competence, because very often a welder gets more than a middle manager with a higher education degree in two professions in Ukraine," the press release quoted international employment expert and Gremi personal owner Yevhen Kyrychenko as saying.
According to the study, only 30% of Ukrainian labor migrants plan to return to Ukraine. The rest plan to continue working in Poland or are going to work in other EU countries. Germany comes first (51%) among the countries Ukrainians are interested in, while 22% of Ukrainians consider the Scandinavian countries to work, as well as the same consider the Czech Republic.
The statistical sample includes 1,034 Ukrainian citizens who work in 25 cities of Poland. The maximum margin of error is 3.1%. The survey was conducted in January-February 2020.
