Less Poles are interested in emigrating to the United Kingdom for work, citing poor financial viability.

Many Poles have realised that working in the UK is not as practical as it was when Poland first joined the 27-nation bloc in 2004.

A new report from the British Home Office shows that in 2009, migrants from new EU member states dropped by 33 percent on 2008. Out of the 106,000 registered in that year, only 50 percent of those were Polish.

The current trend is also reflected in figures given by the National Bank of Poland, which reports that the number of international money transfers from Poles in the UK also dropped by 20 percent in 2009.

Figures released by the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute show that 89 percent of Poles working in the UK earn less than 400 pound sterling gross per week, amounting to around 6,500 zloty a month before tax.

However, many Poles in unskilled jobs are earning much less, amounting to 4,300 zloty (around 1,000 GBP) monthly, a figure which is close to the average 3,600 zloty wage in Poland in 2009, the Central Statistics Office (GUS) reports. (jb)

Source: Dziennik – Gazeta Prawna