Polish firms employ 185,000 Ukrainians under simplified procedure

As many as 185,000 Ukrainians have been employed under a simplified procedure that Poland introduced to help them find work, the Ministry of Family and Labour has said.

Under a special law, Ukrainian citizens who arrived in Poland after February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine, can take up employment without the need to apply for a special work permit.

"The employment of Ukrainian citizens is beneficial for the employees themselves, companies and the entire economy," said Marlena Malag, the family and labour minister, as quoted in a ministry statement.

Most of the newly-employed Ukrainians, of whom 135,000 are women, have found jobs in Poland's central provinces of Mazowieckie and Lodzkie, western Wielkopolskie and south-western Dolnoslaskie.

"The job market in Poland is very strong despite the geopolitical situation in the region," Malag added. "The rate of registered unemployment was at 5.2 percent at the end of April 2022, which is a good result that surprised a number of analysts.

"Employers are still reporting many vacancies, and we have proposed a number of instruments facilitating entry to Poland's labour market for Ukrainians in a draft amendment on aid to Ukrainian citizens that has recently been approved by the government," Malag added.

Among other solutions, the draft law offers Polish language training to the refugees and streamlines labour inspection.