21st century economic migration
Polish-born people in employment in the UK 2003-2010[13]
Many of the Polish British community formed after the Second World War had friends and relatives in Poland. Partly because of this bond, there was a steady flow of immigration from Poland to the UK, which then accelerated after the fall of communism in 1989. Throughout the 1990s, Poles used the freer travel restrictions to move to the UK and work in the grey economy.
At the expansion of the EU on 1 May 2004, the UK granted free movement to workers from the new member states.[14]
There are restrictions on benefits that Polish immigrants can claim, which are covered by the Worker Registration Scheme.[15] Most of the other European Union member states exercised their right for temporary immigration control (which must end by 2011[16]) over entrants from these accession states,[17] although some are now removing these restrictions.[18]
A Polish delicatessen in Stroud, Gloucestershire, opened in 2006
The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics on the number of applications to the Worker Registration Scheme. Figures published in August 2007 indicate that 656,395 people were accepted on to the scheme between 1 May 2004 and 30 June 2007, of whom 430,395 were Polish nationals. However, this figure is only indicative as the scheme is an opt-in system without incentive: it costs Poles time and money and isn't enforced. Poles are able to ignore the scheme and work in the UK provided they have a Polish passport or Polish identity card and a National Insurance Number Card, which has led to estimates of Polish nationals in the UK being much higher.[19]
The Polish magazine Polityka has launched a 'Stay With Us' scheme offering young academics a £5,000 bonus to encourage them to stay at home.
Rapid economic growth at home, falling unemployment and the rising strength of the złoty have, by the autumn of 2007, reduced the economic incentive for Poles to migrate to the UK.[20] Labour shortages in Poland's cities and in sectors such as construction, IT and financial services have also played a part in stemming the flow of Poles to the UK.[21] According to the August 2007 Accession Monitoring Report, fewer Poles migrated in the first half of 2007 than in the same period in 2006. Launched on 20 October 2007, a campaign by the British Polish Chamber of Commerce, 'Wracaj do Polski' ('Come Back to Poland') encourages Poles living and working in the UK to return home.
There was a baby boom during Martial Law in Poland in the early 1980s. Consequently there has been over-supply of new workers on the Polish job market in the 2000s. Unemployment rose and emigration has been a solution for many young Poles. Now that Poland's demographic bulge is ageing, the rate of new entrants to the job market, and therefore emigration, is slowing. Some commentators say the Polish baby-boomers are returning to Poland as they reach child-rearing age themselves.[20]
Polen im britischen Arbeitsmarkt: