With European countries hungry for workers, more Ukrainians are choosing Germany over Poland

abcnews.go.com:

A report says Poland is losing large numbers of Ukrainian refugees from its workforce as they travel to Germany to seek higher wages and government benefits in the rich Western economy

WARSAW, Poland — Poland is losing large numbers of Ukrainian refugees from its workforce as they choose to move to Germany for the higher wages and government benefits in the rich Western economy, according to a report published Tuesday.

Although the refugees are not economic migrants, they are increasingly taking on work as the war in Ukraine drags on for more than a year and a half.

Where they choose to live impacts labor markets in European nations, which are desperate for workers and are facing demographic declines due to low birthrates.

Poland is not their first choice anymore, said Michalina Sielewicz, director of economic development for EWL, an employment agency that carried out the research along with the Center for East European Studies at the University of Warsaw.

“We should be worried,” she said.

But an economist cautioned that Ukrainian refugees cannot solve all of the labor shortages. Andrzej Kubisiak with the state-funded Polish Economic Institute said the greatest demand for workers in Poland and other countries in the region is in manufacturing, construction and logistics. Those are jobs traditionally done by men, while most of the Ukrainian refugees are women.

The study sought to understand why the number of Ukrainian refugees has been decreasing in Poland, a first stop for many after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and why the number has been growing in Germany. For the first months of the war, Poland hosted more Ukrainian refugees than any other country.

That has changed. According to European Union