European Affairs
c/o The European Institute
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Tel: (202) 895-1670
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info@europeanaffairs.org
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In our era of globalization and free market
dogmatism, emigration is widely
deemed a creative force. Labor flows between
countries re-equilibrate labor
markets in ever-broadening integrated
economies such as the European Union.
Poland is a case in point. Since it
joined the EU in 2004, up to two million
Poles have left the country for jobs in
Western Europe. This migration has alleviated
Poland’s high unemployment,
helping to cut the rate from 18 percent to
around 15 percent. It has also filled gaps
in the recipient nations’ labor markets.
And the billions of zlotys transferred to
Poland by its émigré “guest workers” undoubtedly
bolster the Polish economy –
in the same way that Mexico benefits
from transfers of funds home by Mexican
immigrants in the U.S.
The positive consequences are
mainly economic and often proved short lived
for Poland. In the longer run, the
phenomenon has major disadvantages,
especially when viewed in a broader,
socio-cultural context. Polish “economic
emigrants” tend to be young entrepreneurial
types ready to take risks for a better
life – the kind of people needed right
now in Poland to help build a capitalist
economy. Take the Opole region in
southern Poland, traditionally one of the
nation’s richest areas (including under
communism), thanks to a strong work
ethic and inbred business sense among
the people. Now many workers from
there have migrated to Germany. They
provide the largest flow of repatriated
euros of any region in Poland, so Opole is
still comparatively well-off. But without
these transfers, Opole would have
slumped to become one of the nation’s
poorest regions. Local entrepreneurship
has collapsed and the cheap local labor
has disappeared. So once-thriving local
business has become uncompetitive.
The exodus of young workers also increases
the strains on the state-run program
of health care and pensions that
covers most Poles. The system relies on
contributions from workers and from
employers to pay for its outlays. But this
pay-as-you-go system (as distinct from
systems relying on pension funds invested
in stocks and bonds) faces a long term
dilemma: as more Poles retire and
need to be paid benefits, there are fewer
working Poles to pay them. It’s a scissors
effect: as more Poles live longer, fewer
Poles are being born. Today, five working-
age people support one pensioner; in
2020, there will be only three people contributing
for each pensioner. This budget
strain increases as emigrants depart from
the workforce in Poland. Sooner or later,
as the government looks for funds for
pensions, it will have to raise taxes or reduce
social spending – steps that would
push more people to emigrate.
Of course, the drain on the social security
budget and the labor shortage are
often related thanks to the craftiness of
individuals who want to beat the system.
Construction workers are a skilled group
in demand in Poland and also a large
contingent on the unemployment rolls.
This apparent paradox is explained when
you realize that many Poles who have
emigrated and work abroad, keep themselves
registered on the unemployment
rolls in Poland so that they can continue
to enjoy the benefits.
Another damaging aspect of current
emigration is its brain-drain dimension.
In contrast to the early 20th century
when Polish emigrants generally were
poor, uneducated peasants who went to
America for unskilled jobs in mines,
meat-packing factories and steel mills,
today’s exodus to Western Europe and
the U.S. involves a quite different category
of Poles. Many are university graduates,
with degrees as doctors, scientists,
engineers or computer specialists. They
leave because unemployment in the 18-
24 age-group is the nation’s highest – up
to 40 percent. Salaries are low in Poland’s
state-run health service; scientific research
is under-funded; there are very
few opportunities for professional development.
The emigration of these people
is an enormous loss for Poland. As Jerzy
Regulski, a prominent economist who
belongs to Poland’s delegation to the
Council of Europe, points out: “ There is
a direct, obvious correlation between
migration and lack of development” in
economies such as Poland’s.
Proponents of emigration have a
ready reply: many emigrants will ultimately
return, repatriating skills and experience
that can improve their home
country. But will they? And which ones
will? Many of the most talented will succeed
in their new countries and stay
there. Recent data show a decrease in
transfers of money to Poland, suggesting
that more emigrants are bringing their
families to their new homelands for good.
Meanwhile, Polish “guest workers”
bear an enormous burden due to their
unnatural situation in being separated
from their spouses and children. Many
such families break up. Some people emigrate
as couples, leaving their children
behind in their grandparents’ care. Many
such youngsters end up growing up on
the streets: the Polish press is full of stories
about teenage crimes committed by
youngsters whose parents are working in
Germany, Great Britain or Ireland.
It is another hidden cost of the
“healthy” movement of labor from one
country to another.
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