Labor shortages in Poland increasing as influx of Ukrainians slows, data suggests.

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Companies in Poland are seeing increasing shortages of workers as the influx of Ukrainians into the country slows, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on Aug.

5, citing data from Credit Agricole bank. In total, 1.16 million foreigners work in Poland, 11 times more than 10 years ago, Rzeczpospolita said. Poland is home to the highest number of Ukrainians of all EU countries.

At the end of 2021, around 650,000 Ukrainians had Polish residency permits. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine meant that by the end of 2023, around 955,000 Ukrainians were living in Poland as refugees, many of them children. Sectors that tend to employ immigrants, such as logistics, manufacturing, transport, and construction, are now increasingly seeing staff shortages, and "the situation may get worse," according to Rzeczpospolita.

"The space for further inflow of workers from abroad is already limited," as the potential for immigration from Ukraine "is slowly being exhausted," Rzeczpospolita said. Poland's government is also expected to tighten its immigration policy for workers from outside Europe, which will further compound the issue, Rzeczpospolita added. Polish Ambassador to Kyiv Jaroslaw Guzy said in March that although Warsaw is "absolutely neutral" on whether Ukrainians should stay or return home, "Ukrainians are very important from the point of view of the Polish labor market."

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Will it be effective?

Kyiv and Warsaw have agreed to form and jointly train a new army brigade on Polish soil, betting the initiative could help recruit some of the scores of Ukrainian men living in Poland and other EU countries.

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