The Polish migration to UK has its origins in the First and Second World War and the disastrous, bloody invasions suffered by Poland from Germany and the Soviet Union, respectively during the XX Century. Reflecting the importance of the Polish migration to UK following both World Wars, in 1947 a “Polish Resettlement Act” was issued, formally acknowledging the orderly establishment of Polish in UK. This British Act facilitated the expansion of total Polish community in UK from initially 44.000 to 162.000 Polish as it allowed those established to bring families over to UK as well as it gave a clear reference to those in Poland wishing to emigrate to UK.
The second large wave of Polish migration to UK is linked to the accession of Poland –together with other seven mainly Eastern countries- in 2004. The resulting effect of lifting the immigration restrictions facilitated that during the period of 2004-6, 427.000 Polish migrated to UK.
Economic reasons have been the main driver of Polish migration to the UK over the last decade. With an average salary for blue collar workers in Poland of around 200 pounds per month in 2004, combined with a high unemployment rate, the economic reasons were compelling for the Polish workers. 60% of these immigrants were in the age range of 24-35 year old and 40% had a university degree. Most of them were single and only few of them had dependants –the latter totally 36.000 (out of the 427.000). The reputation of the Polish workers in the UK is high as they are perceived as having a strong work ethic and are willing to accept jobs that are turned down by the indigenous population as well as accepting relatively low wages.
The above features point to a very positive impact on the British economy from the Polish migration. In particular, higher labour productivity, lower natural unemployment rate and lower labour costs. At the same time however, those features bring almost exactly the opposite negative effects on the Polish economy. Those, while in the short term Polish migration could be a relief for the Polish society if they are unemployed, in the long term the effect may well be negative.
Nevertheless, there are also positive effects from the Polish migration on the Polish economy and society. The most quantifiable one is related to salary remittances: it is estimated that 60% of the Polish workers send some or all of their savings to Poland, totaling around 4 billion pounds per year. It could also be argued that it allows the population to find an alternative when there are few opportunities at home. Moreover, temporary emigrants coming back to work to Poland will bring with them their acquired skills and experience from having worked in a country which is more developed than Poland. This positive impact should be not only economic but as well social and cultural as the returning migrants should be more open minded.
In the last years, the attraction by UK on Polish workers has been relatively weaker than in the past as Poland’s economy has grown fast, average wages have more than doubled in the last seven years and the zloty has appreciated strongly.
Migration always creates a certain clash in particular with the working class in the receiving country as the immigrants will accept relatively low wages, preventing wages t o go up. If in addition, the economic situation turns less favorable and unemployment rises, this may trigger an anti-immigrant sentiment and more generally xenophobia. In general, this does not seem to be the case in UK with the Eastern Europeans. According to official statistics, from an average British unemployment rate of 7.9%, only 5% of Eastern immigrants are unemployed while, e.g. another very important group of immigrants, namely India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, suffer a rate of 12%. In spite of the overall positive perception of Britons towards Polish immigrants, some sources of anti-Polish sentiment are present, as the far right British National Party who have being campaigning for the banning of Polish immigration and advocating to withdrawing their residence permission and sending them back to Poland.
In the long term, potentially, migration has a negative effect for the home country and a positive effect on the host country given its impact on the average population age and its related consequences on dependency ratio. This is the case in Poland. Since the last Census in the year 2002, which recorded a population of 38.231.000 residents -of which 94.7% were Polish-, the population has been stagnant or slightly decreasing. Poland had reached a population of 38 million already in 1990. These facts, together with a low birth rate, highlight a negative dimension of the Polish emigration, including to UK. Overall, however, I tend to conclude that the Polish emigration to UK has been so far beneficial for both UK and Poland.
