Vol. 14 No. 1 (2026)
March 2026

Articles

The determinants of economic integration among Ukrainian forced and economic migrants in Poland

Published 2026-03-23

  • Jan Brzozowski
    • ,
  • Konrad Pędziwiatr
    • ,
  • Marcin Stonawski
    • ,
  • Michał Wanke
    • ,
  • Svitlana Luchik-Musiyezdova

Jan Brzozowski
Jagiellonian University

Konrad Pędziwiatr
Krakow University of Economics

Marcin Stonawski
Krakow University of Economics

Michał Wanke
Kraków University of Economics

Svitlana Luchik-Musiyezdova
Krakow University of Economics

Abstract

Objective: The article aims to analyse the key determinants of multiple dimensions of economic integration among Ukrainians in Poland, including employment status, job quality, skill matching, job satisfaction, and perceived financial situation, with a comparison between forced and economic migrants.

Research Design & Methods: The study draws on a large cross-sectional CAWI survey of Ukrainians living in Poland (1 082 observations), conducted between March and April 2025. We designed the survey to enable comparisons of the economic performance of individuals across economic/forced migration status and urban/central/rural/remote areas. We constructed post-stratification weights to enhance representativeness and reliability of the study results according to voivodship, sex, and age based on the Polish PESEL register. The econometric analysis employed logit models.

Findings: In line with the expectations, the study demonstrates that the Ukrainian forced migrants exhibit lower levels of integration than economic migrants. Employment is particularly constrained for women with young children, despite overall high participation rates. Social networks exert positive effects: Polish contacts enhance employment prospects and job-skill matching.

Implications & Recommendations: The evidence underscores that women with young children face particular barriers to entering the labour market. Therefore, expanding access to preschools and maintaining child benefits are essential policy measures for fostering economic mobility and supporting refugee employment.

Contribution & Value Added: This study provides new insights into the economic integration of Ukrainians in Poland, an increasingly important destination country within the EU. It contributes to the literature by comparing economic migrants and forced migrants from the same ethnic group within a single national context, while explicitly incorporating the urban-rural settlement dimension.

Keywords

immigrants, refugees, forced migrants, Poland, Ukrainians, economic integration

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Author Biography

Jan Brzozowski

Associate professor at the Institute of European Studies at Jagiellonian University (Poland). His research interests include socio-economic integration of migrants and return migrants, immigrant & refugee entrepreneurship.

Konrad Pędziwiatr

Professor at the Department of International Relations (Krakow University of Economics) and Deputy Director of the Center for Advanced Studies of Population and Religion (CASPAR). His research interests include religious, ethnic and health dimensions of migration studies and social movements in Europe and the Middle East.

Marcin Stonawski

Professor at the Center for Advanced Studies of Population and Religion (CASPAR), Kraków University of Economics (Poland), and associated with Statistics Denmark. His research interests include population ageing and its socioeconomic implications, migration, demographic and human capital projections, and global trends in religion and religiosity His research interests include the process of population ageing and its socioeconomic consequences, demographic projections, human capital, ageing of the labour force, the adjustment of companies and institutions to future changes in the labour market, and changes in religion and religiosity around the World.

Michał Wanke

Assistant Professor at the University of Opole (Poland) and Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies of Population and Religion (CASPAR) at Krakow University of Economics (Poland). His research interests include cannabis users, cultures of psychoactive substance use, migration, intercultural communication, transnationalism and social remittances.

Svitlana Luchik-Musiyezdova

Research assistant at the Center for Advanced Studies of Population and Religion (CASPAR) at Krakow University of Economics (Poland). Her research interests include immigrant and refugee social integration, migration intentions, migrants’ access to healthcare and education.

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