Ukraine’s population is 42 million, and at least 900,000 of them work and live in Poland at any given time. It is the second largest employers of Ukrainian labour migrants, with Russia being #1.
How much do Ukrainians manage to earn in Poland that they are ready to leave their country and labour in a foreign land?
The most typical hourly wage of Ukrainians working in Poland is USD 4
According to Personnel Service, a recruiting agency, every second employer in Poland is prepared to pay to Ukrainian workers only 15-16 zloty per hour (around USD 4).
- 15% of employers pay 17-21 zloty per hour (USD 5)
- 1 in 5 pays over 21 zloty per hour (over USD 5 per hour)
- 17% of employers are prepared to pay Ukrainian labourers more than locals to ensure they stay.
According to the Embassy of Poland in Ukraine, most typical jobs where Ukrainians are employed require physical or unqualified labour, Finance.ua reported.
- Construction and building, repairs;
- Transport and logistics;
- Agriculture, farming;
- Service industry;
- Manufacturing industry.
Ukrainian women venture abroad to find well-paid jobs less frequently than men. Males often go to work leaving the wife with kids at home and sending money as remittances. Ukraine is one of the countries where exporting labour is becoming an important industry ensuring a stable influx of hand currency into the local economy.
The industry is not as professionally structured as the same sector in Philippines, for example, but it may grow in the coming years, if the wages in Ukraine remain that low as they are now.
The average monthly wage in Ukraine in 2019 (January-September) was 10,259 hryvnia or USD 424.
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I expect that the European Union will relax the restrictions on work permits for people from Ukraine in the next few years. People from Poland used to work in Europe in large numbers. However, with the Polish economy growing at a high rate, the flow of workers is drying up. People from Romania have picked up some of the slack but there is still more demand for workers doing physical work. So out of sheer necessity, workers from Ukraine will have to fill the gap. People from eastern Europe are well liked by their employers since they are very reliable… Read more »