UKRAINIAN LABOUR MARKET FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF POLES – STEREOTYPES OR NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES?

Short- and long-term migration for economic purposes became, within the last decade, a
typical and inseparable part of the Polish labour market. The most frequently chosen destinations
include, in most cases, Western European countries like Norway, while the United
States are chosen less frequently. What is important, the eastern neighbours of Poland almost
never become the migration destination. A question can thus appear about the reason
for the above mentioned aversion to take up employment in this part of the continent. Is it
caused solely by factors of economic nature, or does the source lie also in the area of the
usually quite negative image of Eastern European countries? The purpose of this article is to
attempt to assess, using the example of the Ukrainian market, how the Polish employees
perceive the eastern labour markets and, moreover, to verify, to what extent these perceptions
are a derivative of the functioning stereotypes, or a consequence of own professional
experience. Obtained results show that the aforementioned market is perceived in a clearly
negative way, especially in the area concerning work, its conditions, and professional opportunities.
Nonetheless, it should be pointed out that in fact some stereotypes do exist – employees
who had actually visited Ukraine, had the tendency to evaluate the local labour
market slightly better than those who had never been there.

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