security

migration

labour market

centre-periphery

The text outlines the results of a quantitative and qualitative research project ‘In search of labour market security. Migration to and from Poland and the attractiveness of the Polish labour market’. The respondents were: (1) Poles working abroad (in Germany and in Great Britain), (2) graduates of Polish universities who declare willingness to leave Poland permanently, and (3) foreigners working in Poland (mainly from Ukraine). The aim was to check the hypotheses regarding labour market security, the perceived attractiveness of labour markets and the status of the Polish labour market in Europe. The hypotheses based on theories (eg. ‘push and pull theory’) and those resulting from migration statistics were extended with the most important aspects of the respondents’ subjective definitions of labour market security. The results vary depending on the definition (and on whether the definition is spontaneous or imposed by researchers), therefore a more precise measuring of the impact of the labor market security on migration decisions requires further research. The hypothesis on the semi-peripheral status of the Polish labour market has been confirmed — it is perceived by Poles abroad as peripheral, but it has features of the center attractive to economic migrants.