Beyond Initial Boundaries: Two Decades of Polish Young Adult Migrants’ Labour Market Positionalities in the UK Post-EU Enlargement
Choose format
RIS BIB ENDNOTEPublication date: 07.04.2025
Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Online First, Online First,
https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972SMPP.24.025.20741Authors
Beyond Initial Boundaries: Two Decades of Polish Young Adult Migrants’ Labour Market Positionalities in the UK Post-EU Enlargement
Since the 2004 European Union enlargement, the United Kingdom has seen a significant influx of Polish migrants, many of whom initially found employment in low-skilled roles due to their immediate availability and low entry barriers. This study explores the career changes of young adult Polish migrants in the UK over the past two decades. Using data from British public statistics – the Annual Population Survey (APS) and in-depth interviews – we comprehensively analyse their labour market positionalities in the UK. Our findings reveal a shift from initial deskilling and confinement to the secondary labour market to diverse, upwardly mobile career changes. This study emphasises the critical role of practical skills, work ethics, experience, and social networks in migrants’ professional development. This research contributes to the broader discourse on post-EU enlargement of Central and Eastern European migration, providing a nuanced understanding of young adult Polish migrants’ labour market experiences in the UK.
We would like to thank our colleague, dr hab. Agnieszka Trąbka, who participated in the development of earlier versions of the paper.
Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American psychologist, 55(5), 469.
Bacher J., Brand R., & Bender S. (2002). Re-identifying register data by survey data using cluster analysis: an empirical study. International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems, 10(05), 589–607.
Bobek A. (2024). ‘If You Are Moving Forward Then You Are Not Going Backwards’: Reconfiguration of Family and Migration—A Longitudinal Study of Polish Migrants in Ireland. In Polish Families in Ireland: A Life Course Perspective (pp. 97–121). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Chiu T, Fang D, Chen J, Wang Y, Jeris C (2001) A robust and scalable clustering algorithm for mixed type attributes in a large database environment. In: Proceedings of the seventh ACM SIGKDD international conference on knowledge discovery and data mining. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 263–268.
Cohen-Scali, V. (2003). The influence of family, social, and work socialization on the construction of the professional identity of young adults. Journal of career development, 29, 237–249.
Côté, J., & Bynner, J. M. (2008). Changes in the transition to adulthood in the UK and Canada: The role of structure and agency in emerging adulthood. Journal of Youth Studies, 11(3), 251–268.
Currie S. (2007). De-skilled and devalued: The labour market experience of Polish migrants in the UK following EU enlargement. International Journal of Comparative labour law and Industrial relations, 23(1).
Czeranowska, O., & Winogrodzka, D. (2024). Socio-occupational Paths of Polish and Lithuanian
Returning Migrants: Sequence Analysis of Survey Data with the Use of TraMineR for R. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 25, 997–1025.
Eade J., Drinkwater S., & Garapich M. (2007). Class and ethnicity: Polish migrant workers in London: Full research report. ESRC End of Award Report, RES-000-22, 1294.
Drinkwater S., & Garapich M. P. (2015). Migration strategies of Polish migrants: Do they have any at all?. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(12), 1909–1931.
Fel S., Kozak J., Wodawski M., & Isański J. (2023). Dilemmas Faced by Polish Migrants in the UK Concerning Brexit and Return Migration. WORLD• POLITICS, 1, 6.
Favell, A. (2011). Eurostars and Eurocities: Free movement and mobility in an integrating Europe. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
Grabowska, I. (2016). Movers and stayers: Social mobility, migration and skills. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften.
Kaczmarczyk, P., & Tyrowicz, J. (2015). Winners and losers among skilled migrants: The case of post-accession Polish migrants to the UK (No. 9057). IZA Discussion Papers.
Knight J., Lever J., & Thompson A. (2014). The labour market mobility of Polish migrants: A comparative study of three regions in South Wales, UK. Central and Eastern European Migration Review, 3(2), 61–78.
Kloc-Nowak, W., & Ryan, L. (2023). Negotiating long-distance caring relations: Migrants in the UK and their families in Poland. In Handbook on migration and the family (pp. 154–169). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
McGhee D., Heath S., & Trevena P. (2012). Dignity, happiness and being able to live a ‘normal life in the UK–an examination of post-accession Polish migrants’ transnational autobiographical fields. Social Identities, 18(6), 711–727.
Moroşanu L., King R., Lulle A., & Pratsinakis M. (2021). ‘One improves here every day’: the occupational and learning journeys of ‘lower-skilled’ European migrants in the London region. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(8), 1775–1792.
Parutis V. (2014). “Economic migrants” or “middling transnationals”? East European migrants’ experiences of work in the UK. International Migration, 52(1), 36–55.
Pietka-Nykaza, E. (2024). Social relations among diverse rural residents in the Scottish Highlands. Social Inclusion, 12, Article 7620. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.7620
Piore M. J. (1979). Birds of passage: Migrant labour and industrial societies. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. 341 pages.
Sadura P. (2022). The class-related educational strategies and national capital of Polish migrants in the UK (England). British Journal of Sociology of Education, 43(5), 754–769.
Szewczyk A. (2014). Continuation or switching? Career patterns of Polish graduate migrants in England. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40(5), 847–864.
Trevena, P. (2009). Why do highly educated migrants go for low-skilled jobs? A case study of Polish graduates working in London. In B. Glorius, I. Grabowska-Lusińska, & A. Rindoks (Eds.), Mobility in transition: Migration patterns after EU enlargement (pp. 169–190). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press.
Trevena P. (2011). Divided by class, connected by work: Class divisions among the new wave of Polish migrants in the UK. Studia Migracyjne-Przeglad Polonijny, 1(37), 71–96.
Trevena P., McGhee D., & Heath S. (2013). Location, location? A critical examination of patterns and determinants of internal mobility among post-accession Polish migrants in the UK. Population, Space and Place, 19(6), 671–687.
Schulenberg, J. E., Bryant, A. L., & O’Malley, P. M. (2004). Taking hold of some kind of life: How developmental tasks relate to trajectories of well-being during the transition to adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 16(4), 1119–1140.
Voitchovsky S. (2014). Occupational downgrading and wages of new member states immigrants to Ireland. International Migration Review, 48(2), 500–537.
White A., & Ryan L. (2008). Polish ‘temporary’ migration: the formation and significance of social networks. Europe-Asia Studies, 60(9), 1467–1502.
Information: Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Online First, Online First,
Article type: Original article
SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities
Kozminski University
ul. Jagiellońska 57/59, 03-301 Warszawa, Poland
SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities
Published at: 07.04.2025
Article status: Open
Licence: CC BY-NC-ND
Article financing:
Percentage share of authors:
Article corrections:
-Publication languages:
EnglishView count: 82
Number of downloads: 54