Despite the recession in the United Kingdom – major destinations for Polish nationals – Poland remained an emigration country in 2009 with the Polish immigrant population in the UK being on the increase in the second quarter of 2010 says report prepared by Krystyna Iglicka and Magdalena Ziolek-Skrzypczak, who examine recent immigration to Poland, emigration trends since joining the European Union, Polish abroad, return migration in raport prepared for Migration Information Source.
Among the findings:
Due to the recession in the United Kingdom and Ireland, flows to those countries from Poland have decreased in 2008-2009 comparing to the previous years, but the number of arrivals from Poland was still a significant (The UK Department for Work and Pensions tracks National Insurance Number allocations to adult overseas nationals. In 2008-2009, 134,000 numbers were allocated to Polish citizens).
UK data from the quarterly Labor Force Survey suggests that the number of Polish immigrants grew steadily from 2005 until early 2008, when growth leveled off and then drop of about 57,000 people in 2009. Since then, the Polish immigrant population has begun growing. LFS data showed a statistically significant increase in the second quarter of 2010.
The most recent Polish CSO data show that 2.21 million Poles have migrated for work as of 2008, of whom almost 40% were in the United Kingdom.
An estimated 83.8 percent of Poles ages 16 to 64 were employed compared to 70.5 percent for all working-age adults in the United Kingdom, and the Polish-born had a lower unemployment rate in 2009 (5.0 percent) than that for the country overall (7.8 percent).
Surveys and administrative data suggest that Polish migrants in the United Kingdom are highly educated and perform work in the low-skilled sector below their qualifications.
In the United Kingdom, the Home Office tracks the number of approved applications to the Worker Registration. According to the most recent report, the number of new approved applicants from Poland was 10,150 in the first quarter of 2010.
