Poland joined the EU in 2004 and ever since Polish workers have become one of the EU’s most mobile workforces, with a peak surpassing 2.5 million migrants in 2017.
Since 2006, the UK has been the favourite destination for Polish workers looking to emigrate to western Europe in search of jobs, higher wages and a better standard of living.
Until now.
For the first time in over a decade, according to the latest data from Poland’s Central Statistics Office, there are more Polish workers in Germany than the UK.
There are now 695,000 Polish people in the UK, a significant fall of 98,000, while Germany is home to 706,000.
So, why are Polish Workers leaving the UK?
As always there are several factors influencing workers’ decision to leave, however clearly uncertainty about their status after Brexit is influencing the decision.
Reports of anti-immigrant behaviour, including attacks on Polish people, are also not helping.
The drop in the value of the British pound and the impact this has on making the UK a financially appealing place to live has also not encouraged people to want to stay.
One particularly worrying development is the growing number of German businesses and organisations, especially in the construction, logistics, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors, that are actively targeting Polish workers based in the UK.
The University Hospital of Düsseldorf recently targeted Polish nurses in the UK to leave the UK to go and live and work in Germany with an advert stating the following:
“Not only do we have better pay, better social benefits and better working hours … We also have better weather, better food and a shorter way to Poland. And the security of an EU state.”
Dr Tobias Pott, author of the advert said a lack of nurses in Germany and the prospect of nurses in the UK thinking of leaving because of Brexit was the reasoning behind the decision.
Germany it has to be said is a more convenient choice for Polish workers to live, with its close proximity to Poland and higher salaries, however until fairly recently many German employers required migrant workers to speak a good standard of
German, which made the UK a more attractive prospect. Though in recent years many German employers have relaxed their language expectations, in part thanks to government funding, for temporary workers.
All these factors are influencing the decision for Polish workers to leave the UK, but the main reason is they are simply going home to work.
Poland is experiencing its lowest unemployment figures in 28 years, and the economy is growing rapidly, 5.1% in 2018.
In 2018 more Polish workers returned home than left the country for the first time in nearly a decade as employers battle for workers, helping to boost wages.
Several years of strong economic growth have left many domestic businesses reliant on foreign workers, almost one in five (18%) companies in Poland employ Ukrainian workers. Although recruiting Ukrainians is becoming more difficult as other European countries, such as Germany and the Czech Republic, try to also tempt them with better salaries.
Conscious of their countries growing labour shortage, the current Polish government has made it a key priority to lure Poles back home.
Commenting on the new figures released, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told Parliament: "This is a great levy, that Poland has paid to rich Western nations. Such a levy from the poor to the rich is not normal. A country of high living standards needs to put an end to this."