Voluntary migration (Poland) Flashcards
Causes of voluntary migration
Push factors
LOW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: not enough job opportunities (in 2014, unemployment rate was 14%). Low paying jobs = poor standard of living. State benefits are low, coupled with poor pay means people struggle to live and get little support.
LOW QUALITY SERVICES: healthcare and schooling are of a low quality and service is poor (due to brain drain).
IMPACT ON RURAL COMMUNITIES: increase in mechanisation and privatisation means rural unemployment in farming industries has increased.
CULTURE: young people find the culture to be repressive.
Causes of voluntary migration Pull factors (UK)
EASILY ACCESSIBLE: due to Poland joining the EU, no visa was required to come to the UK, so people could move more freely between countries.
PAY/WORK: immigrant workers earned 5x more pay in the UK than they did back home. Exchange rate from pound to zloty was favourable so people could send money back home. Plenty of job availability in Uk e.g. plumbing, construction etc.
COMMUNITY: number of established Poles in the Uk meant communities were already established = inviting.
SERVICES: NHS is free at point of access.
Impacts on donor country (Poland)
ECONOMY: Poles sending money back to Poland from the UK, boosted the Polish economy.
WORK: Polish workers that stayed were paid higher wages to recruit workers, increasing the amount they had to spend in Poland, further helping Polish economy. Businesses and services cannot stay open as skilled and semi-skilled workers have to move to the UK for better wages etc. E.g. healthcare can’t cope with loss of doctors and nurses.
Impact on receiving country (UK)
LANGUAGE BARRIER: translators must be hired to help Polish people that didn’t know English, in places like hospitals, schools etc. In 2013, Polish was the 2nd most widely spoken language in the UK. This means issues can’t be resolved and communication is difficult = tension.
RACISM/HATE CRIME: Clashes with locals occur due to cultural differences. More than 94,000 hate crimes towards Poles recorded in 2017/18.
LACK OF DATE: influx of migrants means there’s a lack of records on immigrants. Professional and educational development can’t be monitored, so funding and investment can’t be planned/effectively distributed.
BURDEN ON LOCALS: locals move away as Polish move in. Some don’t understand local customs and cause a problem for locals e.g. unknowingly commit anti-social behaviour by dumping rubbish as they don’t know about the bin schedule.
