Content area

Full Text

Abstract

Considering that large numbers of the EU-8 immigrants was a strong argument for the Brexit, the objective of this paper is to assess some economic effects of migration from Poland to the UK for both countries. Intensive emigration of the Poles to the UK since 2004 negatively affected Poland's economic growth in the long run, but it also reduced tensions at the labour market by decreasing the unemployment rate. On the other hand, the increase in Polish immigrants in the UK did not significantly affect economic growth and unemployment rate in the destination country in the short run in the period 2004-2015. A significance influence was observed only in the long run, when the UK economic growth decreased, but the pressures on the labour market significantly reduced. From these empirical findings, some policy recommendations are required for both countries: for Poland, migration policies to promote the return of migrants and more efficient utilization of labour force, while for the UK - shaping a more flexible labour market.

Keywords: migrants, Brexit, economic growth, unemployment, European Union

JEL Classification: C51, C53, J61

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)

Introduction

The UK experienced rapid growth in immigration, especially after the EU enlargement in 2004, but also a severe decrease in output in the context of the recent financial crisis of 2008. The UK was among the three countries to open its labour market to migrant workers from the recently joint member states (the so-called EU-8) back in 2004. Assuming this policy, net migration to the UK grew by 66% only in one year (from December 2003 to December 2004). Economic growth for the next 15 years in the UK was around 3% a year, because of the world financial crisis that started in 2007. In this context, many Britons tried to explain the weak performance of British economy by the large number of immigrants that came in the UK since 2004 and negatively affected economic growth due to higher public expenses required. Poland is the country that sent most migrants in the UK after 2004 as compared to the other countries that entered the EU in the same 2004 (Spigelman, 2015). Therefore, a strong argument for the Brexit was the issue of large numbers of immigrants, especially from...

Show less