From a labour force exporter to an EU talent magnet
For decades, Poland was perceived as a classic labour force exporter – a country whose citizens left en masse for the West in search of better earnings. However, amid deep structural macroeconomic shifts in Europe, this traditional migration pattern may completely reverse. While Polish businesses have spent years recruiting workers far beyond Europe’s borders and have become dangerously dependent on migration from Ukraine, largely shaped by changing geopolitical circumstances, a completely new and untapped talent pool is emerging in the EU’s South. Although HR departments rarely consider this direction in their long-term recruitment strategies today, in the coming years the influx of qualified engineering and technical professionals from Southern and Western EU countries may prove absolutely crucial for the growth and scaling of Polish businesses.
Deindustrialisation and the structural dead end of Southern EU economies
The economies of countries such as Greece and Spain have been struggling with severe structural decline and progressive deindustrialisation for years. The share of manufacturing in Greece’s GDP amounts to only around 8–10%, while in Spain it fluctuates around 11–12% – compared with nearly 20% in Poland, where the indicator remains stable. Moreover, youth unemployment among people under 25 in these countries regularly ranges between 24–27%.
Combined with the phenomenon of overeducation, this leads to a situation where more than 30% of technical graduates in Southern Europe are forced to take jobs below their actual qualifications, joining the low-paid tourism and hospitality sectors.
“We are witnessing a huge waste of human capital in Southern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of young engineers, automation specialists and mechanics who graduated from prestigious universities have become trapped in low-value-added service sectors. For Polish industry, this represents a dormant and powerful pool of grey-collar workers that we will soon need to tap into – before others do,” notes Natalia Myskova, CEO of Smart Solutions HR.
The gap in the development of modern industry between Poland and Southern Europe is expected to widen in the coming years. For young specialists there, migration to Northern and Eastern Europe is becoming the only opportunity for professional growth.
Wage compression, gerontocracy and the automotive industry crisis
Another powerful factor pushing talent away from Western markets is the limited difference in salaries between positions with different levels of responsibility. OECD reports indicate that in countries such as Italy and Spain, high tax and social contribution burdens, combined with strong tax progression at middle-income levels, significantly reduce net income. Cedefop research also shows that in Spain and Portugal, the difference in net pay between an unqualified production worker and a certified maintenance technician is often less than 20–25%.
