Food
Economy and employment
Energy and environment
Global Europe
Healthcare
Politics
technology
Transportation
File photo. Workers on the structure of the new Trocka station on the Warsaw Metro Line, Poland, on January 24, 2017. Constructions, factory assembly lines and warehouses across Central Europe are struggling to fill vacancies after tens of thousands of Ukrainian men abandoned their blue necklaces to return home after Russia invaded their country. [EPA/EFE/MARCIN OBARA]
Construction sites, factory assembly lines and warehouses across Central Europe are struggling to fill vacancies after tens of thousands of Ukrainian men quit their manual jobs to return home after Russia invaded their country.
Many of those employees have returned home to contribute to the war effort since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, which greatly exacerbated the shortage of hard work in some of Europe’s most industrialized economies.
Before the Russian invasion, ukrainians were the largest organization of foreigners in Central Europe. Poland and the Czech Republic hosted about 600,000 and more than 200,000 Ukrainians, respectively, according to industry organizations.
Wieslaw Nowak, managing director of Polish railway and tram line manufacturer ZUE Group, said one of its subcontractors had recently finished paintings similar to laying tracks because almost all of its 30 Ukrainian employees had left.
With commercial production contributing 30% of GDP, the Czech Republic ranks as the most traded country in the EU. Poland largely follows with 25%.
BNP Paribas Bank Polska’s lead economist Michal Dybula said the loss of Ukrainian staff would damage the Polish economy, the European Union’s sixth-largest, at least in the short term, based on economic knowledge and conversations with local businesses.
To address the shortage, Polish recruitment company Gremi Personal said its consumer corporations had moved men to physically more difficult jobs and hired Ukrainian refugee women to upgrade them.