The Barometer of the Polish Labour Market study, commissioned by Personnel Service, found that 36% of Poles now express a favourable view of foreigners, while 43% remain neutral and 14% hold negative opinions.
Notably, 40% of respondents say they encounter foreign workers in their workplace.
"Compared with previous editions, sentiment toward Ukrainians and Belarusians has improved", Krzysztof Inglot, president of the Polish Outsourcing Association and founder of Personnel Service told Poland’s PAP news agency.
This year, a combined 79% of Poles report either positive or neutral attitudes toward foreigners, up from 71% a year earlier, Iglot noted.
“Year by year, we see that the fears people were warned about have not materialised, Inglot remarked.
“No one is taking our jobs or lowering our wages. Instead, we complement each other in areas where there is a shortage of Polish workers,” he added.
The survey also shows that concerns about losing jobs to foreigners are not widespread: 69% of Poles say they do not fear being pushed out of the labour market by foreign workers.
These findings point to a relatively high level of acceptance of foreign employees in Polish companies and a belief that they tend to fill labour shortages rather than compete directly for the same positions, the report’s authors remarked.
Ukrainians remain by far the largest group of foreign workers in Poland, accounting for nearly 80% of all foreigners in employment.
They are most commonly employed in services and manufacturing, and many have built up years of professional experience in the country.
Data from Statistics Poland (GUS) confirm an upward trend indicating that as of October 2025, 1,139,400 foreigners were employed in Poland, marking a 7.1% increase compared with 2024.
Encouragingly, 73% of Ukrainian respondents rate their job situation in Poland positively, according to the study.
(mo)
Source: PAP