Poland has the highest rate of employment for Ukrainian refugees among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that received large numbers of people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In its latest migration report, the OECD also notes that Poland has one of the highest rates of employment among immigrants as a whole, as well as experiencing some of the highest levels of immigration among the 38 countries belonging to the organisation.

In 2024, 78% of displaced Ukrainians in Poland were employed, notes the OECD, using data from Poland’s central bank. The next highest figures were recorded in Lithuania (72%) and the UK (69%). Spain (17%), Switzerland (28%) and Norway (31%) had the lowest figures.

Poland was the primary initial destination for the millions of people who fled Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. It still hosts almost a million Ukrainian refugees, second only to Germany, which has around 1.2 million (and an employment rate of just 31% among them).

Earlier this year, a study published by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and accounting firm Deloitte showed that Ukrainian refugees boosted the size of Poland’s economy by 2.7% in 2024.

Poland’s National Development Bank (BGK) has also found that Ukrainians – including both refugees and non-refugees – pay more into the Polish state budget in taxes than they receive in benefits and contribute between 0.5% and 2.4% to Poland’s annual GDP growth.

by LucianFromWilno

7 comments

  1. So that’s why so many Poles struggle to find a job? Those are already taken by Ukrainians?

  2. Their language and culture are very similar to those of Poland, I’d say it makes sense

  3. Well, because here you need to work to survive, In the West you can just rely on social welfare.

  4. I wonder what effect tying the child benefit to employment had here.

  5. I feel sorry for Ukrainians who chose to contribute to Poland and its economy. You have the entire Europe available for you and you decided to invest your productive years in Poland facing all this dirt in the comments on a daily basis.

    Especially if you are young, don’t buy this crap about “similar language”, learn English or German and move to Western Europe, the experience and skills that you can get there will be a lot more valuable for your future than what you could possibly get in Poland.

    You’ll get more money, more skills, and you will not contribute to a country whose peak ambition is to wait for a good moment to backstab their neighbor in their most vulnerable moment.

  7. Isn’t 78% still much lower than general population? I’m fairly sure we have very low unemployment rate

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