The exodus of Ukrainian workers is a blow to European economies

Before the Russian invasion, Ukrainians were the largest group of foreign workers in Central Europe

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Elena Nelova, a 43-year-old Ukrainian woman, in a warehouse in the Polish city of Gozhov Wielkopolsk, Photo: Reuters
Elena Nelova, a 43-year-old Ukrainian woman, in a warehouse in the Polish city of Gozhov Wielkopolsk, Photo: Reuters
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Construction sites, factory conveyor belts and warehouses across Europe are scrambling to fill vacancies after thousands of Ukrainian men left manual jobs and returned home as Russia invaded their country.

The Reuters agency writes that during the last decade, a large number of Ukrainian workers came to Central Europe, attracted by better earnings and encouraged by the easing of visa requirements. They filled jobs for which local workers were underpaid in construction, the automotive sector and heavy industry.

Many of those workers have returned home to help defend the country, which Reuters reports has sharply exacerbated labor shortages in some of Europe's most industrialized economies.

Representatives of companies, industrial bodies and economists in Poland and the Czech Republic said that the departure of Ukrainian workers leads to increased costs and delays in production and construction orders.

Before the Russian invasion, Ukrainians were the largest group of foreign workers in Central Europe, Reuters writes, citing data from industry trade groups that Poland and the Czech Republic had workforces of about 600.000 and more than 200.000 Ukrainians, respectively.

The European Central Bank said in June that the influx of Ukrainian refugees is expected to ease labor shortages in the eurozone. The opposite seems to be happening in the industrialized economies of Europe outside the single currency bloc

The Polish Employers group, which represents 19.000 companies, estimates that around 150.000 Ukrainian workers, mostly men, have left Poland since the war began.

Vjeslav Novak, chief executive of Polish tram and railway construction company ZUE Group, said one of his subcontractors recently did not complete track-laying work because nearly all 30 Ukrainian workers had left.

"Many companies are massively looking for workers at various construction sites due to large outflows," he told Reuters.

"It certainly affects costs and the pace of work because if someone loses dozens of workers at the same time, rebuilding the team takes much more than a few days."

The European Central Bank said in June that the influx of Ukrainian refugees is expected to ease labor shortages in the eurozone. The opposite seems to be happening in the industrialized economies of Europe outside the single currency bloc.

The hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, who have arrived in the region cannot fill the many vacant jobs. These jobs are often in physically demanding sectors such as construction, manufacturing or foundries where there are legal restrictions on how much weight women can carry.

From training refugee women to operate forklifts to recruiting new workers in Asia, companies are scrambling to find innovative ways to fill gaps in the workforce, their executives told Reuters.

They are late and pay fines

For many firms struggling to recover from the economic impact of the covid pandemic, and now facing a sharp rise in energy prices and inflation as a result of the war, the sudden shortage of workers is a difficult challenge.

"The loss of Ukrainian workers has deepened the problems faced by companies," Radek Špicar, president of the Czech Federation of Industry, told Reuters. "Companies say that they cannot meet all the demand from business partners, that they are late and pay fines".

The Czech Republic, where the share of industrial production in GDP is 30 percent, is the most industrialized country in the EU. Poland follows with 25 percent.

Companies expecting these workers are now struggling to fill those positions, says Gabrijela Hrbackova, director of Hofman Personal in the Czech Republic. That country has the lowest unemployment rate in the EU, only 3,1 percent.

From training refugee women to drive forklifts to recruiting new workers in Asia, companies are scrambling to find innovative ways to fill workforce gaps

"If this is not resolved quickly, and if opportunities for hiring foreign candidates are not improved, the consequences will be big, especially for manufacturing companies," Hrbachkova told Reuters.

"Companies are short hundreds of employees for manufacturing operator positions, skilled manufacturing positions such as welders, (machine) operators, metal workers and forklift drivers."

Leaders of companies and trade groups say the impact of the departure of Ukrainian workers is particularly hard to be felt in developing Europe because that region is less automated than more developed EU economies, such as Germany.

Reuters writes that some companies have intensified plans to increase automation, but that many jobs still require human hands, so this does not solve the problem.

Economic impact

Michal Dybula, chief economist at BNP Paribas Bank Polska, says it is clear that the loss of Ukrainian workers will hurt the Polish economy - the EU's sixth largest - at least in the short term, based on economic data and discussions with local business representatives. However, it is still too early to determine the extent of the impact, he added.

Petr Skoček, director of German auto parts maker Brose Group's plant in the Czech city of Ostrava, near the Polish border, said the influx of Ukrainian workers has been a boon for businesses because of their qualifications, work ethic and similar culture.

"That channel is now cut off," Skocek said.

The labor problem has come on top of supply chain problems for manufacturers, who are faced with rising costs of energy and materials due to the war and prolonged supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic.

The producer price index, a measure of inflation for businesses, reached almost 25,6 percent in June in Poland and 28,5 percent in the Czech Republic.

Reuters writes that some companies offer higher wages to attract workers.

"We are looking for Ukrainian workers on the market, offering more money," said Macej Jezhmik, CEO of the Polish company InBet, which produces prefabricated construction materials. "We adapt almost every week.

Engaging women

In order to cope with the shortage, some companies transferred men to more physically demanding jobs and hired Ukrainian refugee women to replace them.

Labor shortages have also forced some companies to seek workers from as far away as Mongolia and the Philippines, with language, travel and visa issues making it difficult to fill jobs quickly.

"The problem is that the number of workers brought in from those countries is not enough to fill the vacant positions," said Markos Segador Arebola, executive director of recruitment firm GI Group Poland.

He said that the number of Ukrainian workers in Europe's largest developing economy has increased 38 times over the past 13 years.

'It's hard, but there was no other job'
"It's hard, but there was no other work"photo: Reuters

Companies such as construction firm Inpro in Poland are also turning to prefabs to keep construction projects running smoothly. Others are extending working hours and training women in jobs traditionally performed by men, such as operating forklifts.

Vojceh Ratajžik, executive director of the staffing firm Trenkwalder Poland, said that Poland has created jobs for 50.000 logistics workers, most of whom are forklift drivers.

He added that more than 600 women responded to an ad sent to 2.000 refugees to learn how to operate forklifts. Several dozen have recently started a four-week course organized in cooperation with companies.

One of the participants is Olga Vorovij, a former sales manager who found work in a Polish warehouse of auto parts maker Faurecia after fleeing Ukraine.

"It's a hard job, but I have to work and earn and there was no other job in Gožov," she told Reuters.

"In Ukraine I worked using my brain, and here in Poland I work physically."

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