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Poland world's top magnet for temporary workers: OECD

30.09.2019 11:00
Poland welcomed the largest number of temporary economic migrants in the world in 2017, according to the Rzeczpospolita daily, citing data released by the OECD.
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Around 1.1 million people came to Poland that year to work for less than 12 months.

The country came ahead of the United States and Germany, which hosted nearly 700,00 and over 400,000 temporary workers respectively.

Piotr Bujak, chief economist with the PKO BP bank, said growing temporary immigration to Poland has been noticeable for several years, but the country’s top spot in the global ranking may come as a surprise to many.

One of the positive effects of a large inflow of a temporary workforce to Poland is the improved financial situation of Poland's Social Insurance Fund (ZUS), Bujak told Rzeczpospolita.

He added: “According to data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), over 600,000 employees who came to Poland from abroad pay insurance contributions and this number is growing quarter by quarter. It helps to finance current pension payments.”

Bujak said that as the number of people of working age shrinks in Poland, an inflow of foreign workers is needed for the economy to grow as fast as it has in recent years.

He added that 90 percent of immigrants who pay social insurance contributions are workers from Ukraine.

(aba/pk)

Source: Rzeczpospolita