May 2005, the French voted No to the European Constitution. One of the reasons was that they feared that the influx of workers from former communist EU member states, especially from Poland, would take over their jobs.
Now, one and a half year later, we know that there are 270.000 Polish workers in Germany, 230.000 in Britain and 105.000 in Ireland. We don’t know exactly how many there are in France, but it must be a comparable number. Because more then 800.000 Poles have left there homes since May 2004, when the enlargement of the EU with 8 former communist countries country took place.
The result of this exodus is a labour problem is. But not in the old member states who feared once the influx of eastern-european workers, but in Poland itself. Although the unemployment rate in Poland is 15.2 %, one of the highest in the EU, the government can not find workers to build new roads paid for by European Funds. € 30 billion has to be spent on new infrastructure between 2007 and 2013. If not spent in that period, the money has to be paid back to the EU.
There is also a shortage of shipbuilders for the Polish wharfs. Poland and Germany are now talking about ‘importing’ unemployed ship workers from northern Germany. The Polish government is trying to convince Ukrainians and Belarusians to come to Poland and offers work permits.
Foreign companies in Poland have the same problem to find enough and the right workers. They also try to hire people from Ukraine and Belorussia. But the work permit system does not work. More then 10.000 were issued but only one third were taken up. It looks like Ukrainians and Belarusians prefer to go to Spain.
Another huge problem for the government is that many workers left Poland to go abroad but are still registered as unemployed at home in order to remain in the national health system. A few weeks ago, Polish President Kaczynski criticised his fellow countrymen for enjoying good wages outside the country and drawing unemployment benefits at home.
In the meantime the Polish economy is expected to grow this year by 5 %. There is huge unemployment, especially in eastern Poland, but in general the economy is booming. Thanks to the black labour market, that is blooming…
