The latest study by the “Polish Labor Market Barometer” by Personnel Service shows that the number of employers declaring they employ Ukrainians is systematically decreasing. At the same time, the number of entrepreneurs employing people from Belarus and Asia is growing.
Currently, as indicated by the results of the survey, 28 percent of employers declare that they employ Ukrainians, while a year ago it was 43%. The largest number of workers from Ukraine is employed by large enterprises (46 percent); in medium-sized companies, this percentage is 32 percent, and in small ones, 6 percent.
Personnel Service points out that the decreasing trend in the employment of Ukrainians is also confirmed by ZUS data. Compared to the period before the Russian aggression against Ukraine, when Ukrainians accounted for 74 percent of all working foreigners, their share decreased and at the end of November 2024 amounted to 66 percent.
In addition, over the past year, the number of insured foreigners has increased by 64,500 overall, but only 13,400 people have joined among Ukrainians. The largest increase was recorded by Belarusians, whose number increased by 21,300.
“The economic sentiment is not conducive to dynamic employment growth. Many employers expect their situation to worsen or at most maintain the status quo, which is why decisions to increase the number of employees are taken with great caution. This applies to both Poles and foreigners,” explained Krzysztof Inglot, a labor market expert and founder of Personnel Service.
He noted, however, that there is still a great demand for employees, and the number of vacancies on the Polish market is estimated at over 100,000.
According to the Personnel Service study, employees from Ukraine are still most often employed in lower-level positions, but the percentage of Ukrainians in mid-level positions has increased by 18 percentage points and now stands at 40 percent. Their share in higher positions is 9 percent.
The analysis of the earnings of employees from Ukraine shows that most of them earn slightly more than the minimum wage (PLN 30.50 gross), 41 percent receive a salary in the range of PLN 30.50-34.90 gross per hour. And every fifth employer (20 percent) pays slightly more — from PLN 35 to PLN 39.90 gross per hour. Only 7 percent of companies offer a salary above PLN 40 gross per hour.
In the latest survey “Barometer Polskiego Rynku Pracy” 21 percent of employers declared their willingness to employ workers from countries other than Ukraine. As Inglot pointed out, the greatest interest from employers, after Ukrainians, is in workers from Belarus, but openness to employing people from Asia is also growing. As he emphasized, 36 percent of companies consider candidates from India, Nepal, the Philippines or Bangladesh.
Personnel Service added that these trends are also visible in ZUS data. In November 2024, 1.2 million foreigners were registered in the social insurance system, of which the largest groups, right after Ukrainians, were citizens of Belarus (135,600) and Georgia (26,500). In turn, the number of workers from Asia is growing every year — 22,600 Indian citizens, 14,600 Filipinos, 9,300 Nepalese and 10,500 Vietnamese work in Poland.
The survey of employees and employers in Poland was conducted on the nationwide research panel Ariadna using the CAWI method. 329 different sized companies participated in the survey. The survey was conducted on Jan. 20-28, 2025.
