Poland sees sharp rise in foreign workers, Ukrainians remain largest group
Poland's foreign labour force grew by about 86 000 in the past year, with Ukrainians accounting for the biggest share.
Recent statistics from GUS show that Poland's foreign-worker population expanded by around 86 000 over the last twelve months, reaching a total of over 1 million. Ukrainians alone number 783.9 thousand, an increase of 68.9 thousand from a year earlier and 14.6 thousand more than in February, making them the largest foreign-worker cohort. Belarusians (121.1 thousand), Indians (22.7 thousand) and Georgians (20.9 thousand) follow as the next biggest groups.
Civil-law contracts, such as contracts of mandate, cover 437.7 thousand foreign employees, representing 38 percent of the total. Experts note that the Polish labour market now depends heavily on migrant workers to offset demographic shortfalls, and the Ministry reports that Ukrainian labour participation exceeds 70 percent, comparable to Polish citizens.
