According to the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) report, at the end of Q1 2024, of the 1,138,000 foreigners registered in Poland’s national insurance institution ZUS, 762,000 were Ukrainian.

The report also found that most of the refugees had found work as blue collar workers or in tourism and hospitality.

The best paid Ukrainians work in IT and transport.

The PIE report said: “This high rate of refugee employment in Poland was probably significantly influenced by the large number of Ukrainians working in our country before the Russian invasion in 2022.

“Compatriots were able to help newcomers find employment, housing, and provide organisational assistance to facilitate their new situation.”

The report went on to say that more of the refugees were likely to have jobs below their qualifications (46%), compared to pre-war migrants (32%) and that Polish language skills were an important factor.

PIE said: “Here, knowledge of the Polish language is key, as it enables better matching of employment to skills and qualifications. The employment rate for refugees with knowledge of Polish was 82%, while for those without knowledge of Polish it was only 50%.”

However, the report also found that “in industries that do not require specialised qualifications, employers respond less frequently to job applications sent by Ukrainian women compared to CVs sent by Polish women.”

Łukasz Baszczak, Senior Analyst in PIE’s Behavioural Economics team said: “The percentage of call-backs was 27.6% for a Polish [female] candidate and 19.5% for a Ukrainian woman.

“Thus, there are indications of potential discrimination against Ukrainian persons at the stage of pre-selection of submitted applications.

“In the case of positions requiring higher qualifications, this difference was not statistically significant, thus making it impossible to conclude explicitly that discrimination exists.”