Refugees from Ukraine on the poviat labour market

Abstract

The main aim of this report is to prove that the war migrants in the low-industrialised areas are deepening structural problems on local job market. The Sepolno Krajenskie region was selected for evaluation as this region (compared to the entire voivodeship and country) is struggling with the problem of relatively high unemployment. In June 2022, the unemployment rate was almost double the average for Poland and over 40% higher than the average for the voivodeship. The target of the research was proven through the analysis-based deduction method of secondary and primary data obtained through a questionnaire survey in a group of war migrants living in the Sepolno Krajenskie region, a library query, and statistical data and information available through the Poviat Labour Office in Sepolno Krajenskie. Based on the data analysis, it was confirmed that the arrival of young Ukrainian women extended the already existing problem of the excess of women in the local population, which impacts the growing number of unemployed women (by 8.62% in July 2022 compared to December 2021 in Sepolno Krajenskie). Another challenge for the local job market is the fact that the female migrants are not able to take all available jobs as they are limited by the language barrier and the insufficient childcare offered to them. Moreover, about 13% of the children are in school age, so in the near future, they will become job-seekers as well.
Assuming that some of the incoming migrants stay in Poland permanently (only every 4th woman has declared the will to do so), we can expect the average age of the inhabitants of the region to decrease in the long-term, the birth rate to increase and the predicted deficit of reproductive-age people to decrease, which may affect the economic development in the future.