Poland wants migrant workers back home
United Press International
Aug. 1, 2006 at 1:05PM
With nearly 1 million Poles working in Britain in search of better pay, Poland's authorities say the country is short of highly skilled labor.
Local authorities in the southwestern town of Wroclaw plan to visit London's clubs and bars to woo their countrymen back, The Telegraph reported Tuesday.
“We want to tell them that in Wroclaw they have a future in Poland, and a career that is far better than working in a bar,” Pawel Romaszkan, the head of the city's promotion office told the newspaper.
Poland joined the European Union in 2004, and thousands of Poles earning an average of $9,726 a year went to Britain, Ireland and Sweden, where they could make twice as much or more.
The real number of Polish migrant workers is not known but government estimates range from 800,000 to 1 million.
Poland's healthcare service is also suffering after an estimated 5,000 doctors left the country in the past two years.
The Polish parliament recently abolished a tax on money earned abroad in a bid to lure Poles home.
