Paweł Kaczmarczyk

Impact of the Post-Accession Migration on the Polish Labor Market

Post–2004 international mobility of Poles turned out to be one of the most spectacular population movements in the modern European history. Changes noted since the EU enlargement relate to scale, dynamics as well as structural features (socio–demographic characteristics of migrants and their strategies) of migration from Poland. Most of these changes are to be linked to selective opening of the EU15 labour markets and introduction of so–called transitory arrangements. Massive outflow of population – as observed in the Polish case – is supposed to create a supply shock and significantly impact the labour market situation in sending economy. However, the analysis provided shows that labour market effects of recent migration from Poland are moderate – the dynamics of the labour market phenomena (employment, unemployment) as observed in last few years were determined predominantly by business cycle related factors. Nevertheless, long–term effects should be also considered. As suggested, mass migration may lead to the outflow of ‘economically redundant’ population and through this foster the modernization process of Polish economy.

Mobilities in the crisis and post-crisis times: migration strategies of Poles on the EU labour market

ABSTRACT In the post-enlargement period, hundreds of thousands of ‘new Europeans’ from the New Member States embarked on their migration journeys in search of better jobs and living conditions. With over two million citizens staying temporarily abroad, Poland became one of the most important migrant sending countries in Europe. A few years after the 2004 enlargement round, most of the EU-15 labour markets and immigrants themselves were confronted with the most severe economic crisis since the 1930s. Such circumstances are presented as a test of how migration flows respond to changes in economic conditions and to what extent they may increase the adjustment capabilities of labour markets. Against this background, this article takes the migration of Poles as a case study in exploring the ways in which migrants respond to crisis-driven changes in the socio-economic environment. Based on two complementary data sets, we analyse the structural features of Polish migration and the strategies of mobile Poles on the EU labour market. The results indicate that links between the crisis and migration are more nuanced than suggested by economic theory. Furthermore, we show that labour market impulses can be effectively realigned by other factors of both economic and social nature such as access to welfare benefits or family-related strategies.

Why We Still Need Ethnosurveys in Migration Research: Empirical Evidence From Poland

This article addresses ethnosurvey methodology, a combination of ethnographic and survey research in migrant origin and destination countries, that is designed to elucidate a better understanding of the multiple facets of migration processes. First, the article reviews the utility of ethnosurvey methodology for researching contemporary migration. Second, it outlines the strengths of ethnosurvey methodology with its combination of ethnographic and survey research for allowing study of phenomena for which social embeddedness matters. Ethnosurvey research carried out in the Polish context since the 1990s is used to illustrate both the advantages, for example, complexity of approach, multilevel analyses, ability to capture various forms of mobility, and disadvantages, for example, sampling, methodological foundations, and the value added of mixed methods for ethnosurvey methodology.

Migration of Graduates within a Sequential Decision Framework: Evidence from Poland

Abstract The aim of this paper is to identify the main drivers of highly skilled migration between regions. We argue that the spatial mobility of individuals should not be considered in terms of one-off displacements, but rather as a sequence of migration decisions within a certain time period. The important context of the research is provided by the economic transformation of Poland, accompanied by the growing demand for education, and the lack of well-established patterns of graduate mobility. By applying multinomial logit modelling on a unique database of Polish graduates, we find that all the tested migration strategies can be explained in terms of structural factors, human capital characteristics or aspirations/capabilities related variables.