Since the end of 2022, Germany has received more Ukrainian refugees than Poland, and most of them are moving to the West in search of better job opportunities, a study indicated this Thursday.
In August last year, more than 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees received temporary protection in Poland and only 680,000 in Germany, according to data from the new joint report by the EWL Migration Platform and the Center for Eastern European Studies (SEW). from the University of Warsaw. , released this Thursday by place Euroactiv.
Currently, the positions have been reversed and there are around 1.1 million refugees with temporary protection in Germany and 974,000 in Poland, according to the same report.
“Poland has lost its role as a country of first choice [para os refugiados ucranianos] and was replaced by Germany,” said EWL public relations director Anatoliy Zymnin during the presentation of the report, cited by Euroactiv, a journalistic platform specialized in European affairs.
“It’s a question of freedom of choice. Some stay, others go further,” added Jan Malicki, director of SEW.
According to the survey, the main motivations of Ukrainian refugees for moving to Germany include family or friends, higher and more comprehensive social benefits, better living conditions and employment opportunities.
Ukrainians also cited better healthcare, education and protection of children, a lack of knowledge of Polish, and the fact that Germany is considered a safer country, as Poland is too close to war-torn Ukraine.
Germany is a more attractive country in terms of salaries, with salary opportunities four times greater than in Poland, Michalina Sielewicz, Director of International Development at EWL, said of the results of the study.
Sielewicz explained that Germany was a country where foreign workers found it quite difficult to live.
The same expert added that only in recent years has Germany opened its labor market and now entry barriers are much lower, which benefits Ukrainian workers.
More than two 400 Ukrainian refugees who responded to the question that they are integrating into the story, and that they have moved from Poland to Germany in recent months, say that they are about to integrate into German society through language courses, which are required on the market. of work.
The study’s authors believe that Poland’s failure to motivate Ukrainian workers to learn Polish was a missed opportunity.
While in Poland around 68% of workers say they mainly use Ukrainian at work, the authors of the study confirmed that knowing or learning the German language is a prerequisite for future employment.
Anatoliy Zymnin also highlighted a slight change in the attitude of Poles towards Ukrainian refugees, which was also reflected in the study.
Although many refugees said that the positive attitude of Poles towards Ukrainians was a strong motivation for staying in Poland, 16% of respondents now said they felt more welcome in Germany, EWL’s public relations director said.
Source: TSF
