Ukrainians account for 67% of new foreign businesses in Poland

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, as of the end of June 2023, 29,400 Ukrainian private entrepreneurs were registered in Poland, with almost half – 14,000 – opened by Ukrainians this year, the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) reported.

In 2022, before the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, about 200 Ukrainian individual enterprises registered in Poland per month. Already since May 2022 — at least 1,000, and since the beginning of 2023, this indicator has increased to more than 2,000.

The largest number of Ukrainian private entrepreneurs work in the fields of construction (23%), information and communication. And 85% of Ukrainian entrepreneurs provide hairdressing and cosmetology services.

"In 2022, Ukrainians opened almost 16,000 businesses in Poland. Although from October to December 2022, we observed a decrease in the rate of creation of new firms, but 2023 brought record numbers," said Katarzyna Dębkowska, head of the institute's economic forecasting group.

Ukrainians account for 67% of all new individual entrepreneurs in Poland and 10% of all firms created during the first half of 2023. At the same time, since the beginning of 2022, only 3% of firms created by Ukrainians have closed.

"For refugees, this is often a better solution than working as a wage earner, a way to support themselves and their families, as well as work according to their qualifications," concluded Dębkowska.

For 2022, Ukrainians legally working in Poland paid almost one billion zlotys ($252 million) in taxes.

According to the Central Statistical Office, by the end of 2022, the largest number of foreigners in Poland worked in the field of transport and logistics (11.5%), as well as in the hotel and restaurant business (10%). At the same time, only 6.6% of foreigners work in construction, and every third construction company experiences a shortage of workers.

The share of companies in Poland experiencing a shortage of workers exceeded 50% in June.

In June 2023, a survey showed that more and more Ukrainians are switching to skilled work in Poland.