At least 3 thousand part-time workers will come to Poland this year from far away Uzbekistan. This is the result of the agreement signed by the Uzbek Agency for External Labor Migration with Polish entrepreneurs and employment agencies. The agreement is practically intergovernmental in nature, because the Uzbek Agency is an institution of the local Ministry of Labor.
Although there are millions of unemployed youth throughout Europe, it is necessary to bring workers from such exotic countries as India, Bangladesh or Uzbekistan. All because the Union, which is neck-deep in socialism, is building a system that demotivates and discourages from diligence and resourcefulness.
Poles are getting used to the fact that more and more work is being done by foreigners. Over one million Ukrainians have already found employment on the riverbanks of Vistula. On the streets of every major city you can see Indian bikers roaming the streets, who almost completely dominated the market of shipments, deliveries of groceries and meals. Uzbeks who will come to Poland will easily find jobs in the construction, textile and agri-food industries.
Unemployment in Poland amounts 4.4%, which is an excellent result compared to the EU average – 7.1%, or with the average in the eurozone – 8.5%.
However, these statistics are full of paradoxes. Unemployment is the highest among the youth, and at the same time Poland lacks in labour force ready to take up jobs that require lower qualifications, which, in particular, are performed by young people.
After Poland joined the EU, over 2.5 million young Poles emigrated looking for work and better living conditions. In the United Kingdom alone, they founded over 60 thousand companies, so for those owners their stay in the UK is no longer just temporary, but has become a lifetime choice. These 2.5 million Polish emigrants, of course, contribute to the fact that unemployment in Poland is so low that employees must be sought in Ukraine, India, Bangladesh or Uzbekistan.
Several days ago in Poland news made headlines that the German media informed about the desperate situation of local asparagus farmers. This evoked ridicule and mockery in Poland, because it turned out that the farmers feared a catastrophe, because Poles did not go to Germany to collect pick this year.
This small example, as well as Polish and European statistics, show that the EU is not able to deal with the problem of youth unemployment at the level of the whole Community. At the same time, as in the case of Germany, the admission of millions of immigrants is to prevent a demographic crisis, because there are too few young people and there aren’t enough workers.
Data from Europe, especially from the south, are alarming. Over 43% of young Greeks under 24 are unemployed. Nearly 39% of Spaniards, almost 35% of Italians, 24% of Portuguese, 22% of French. Poles, mocking Merkel and German asparagus farmers, are basically asking a fundamental question: why wasn’t asparagus in Germany picked by million immigrants from outside the EU or by young people from Greece, Spain, Italy, France or Portugal. Or Belgians from Brussels, where youth unemployment reaches 33%?
And another question: why 2.5 million Poles took advantage of the open borders in Europe and left the homeland “to win bread”, and the inhabitants of the so-called PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) didn’t? Where is this lack of entrepreneurship, lack of openness to change, unwillingness to take risks, come from?
Because of it being poor, Poland has never been an attractive place of work for the citizens of the “old” Union. However, in May this year, the Polish GDP per capita reached the level of two countries of “old” Europe. Considering the purchasing power, the statistical Pole began to produce and earn as much as a Greek or Portuguese. In just a moment, Poles will ask another question: why in our restaurants, orchards, on plantations and construction sites Greeks and Portuguese cannot work, but we must import Indians and Uzbeks?
The answer is quite obvious – they don’t want to and it doesn’t pay off. Living even at a low level, but at the expense of others – from benefits funded by working taxpayers – is much more convenient. These social benefit deprive of motivation and, to put it bluntly, make people lazy. They discourage responsibility, resourcefulness, teach how to be a parasite living off a system that the Union is constantly building and consolidating. Even the last proposals regarding the shape of the budget for the years 2021-2027 prove this. The EU is reducing cohesion funds and increasing social benefits. Cohesion funds are being cut off the countries of Central Europe, which have to catch up on the development delay caused by half a century of communist rule. More money will go to the countries of the European south – to their poorest regions. One of the criteria for awarding funds will be the level of youth unemployment.
Again, young Greeks, Italians and Spaniards will be told that it is not worth trying and going to Germany to pick asparagus, because the money for survival will find their way to their pockets. In communist Poland, it was said about working in a socialist enterprise (and all of them were just that): “whether you stand, whether you lie down, you get two thousand” (‘czy się stoi, czy się leży, dwa tysiące się należy’). The saying has become valid again, only this time we can apply it to the people of the “Old” Europe.
Author: Dariusz Matuszak
