Poland in the migration chain: causes and consequences

This article deals with migration flows from and to Poland from a skills perspective. It argues that Poland’s economy is skewed towards lower to medium skills and, confronted with an ‘education boom’ in higher education, is not able to absorb its supply of highly qualified workers. As a result, a strong push factor to emigration has been created, which should be seen as a brain overflow rather than a brain drain. On the other hand, the sectors requiring relatively low skills and offering the lowest wages are facing labour shortages. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union are filling this gap. We argue that Poland represents a specific place in the migration chain, as there is no clear substitution of migrating workers with immigrants; rather, the nature of emigration and immigration reinforces the socio-economic model in Poland.