The main purpose of the project is to examine new cross-border Overseas Filipino Workers – OFWs’ migration networks in the context of Poland’s inclusion in the global circulation of employment services.
In recent years, Poland has entered a stage of migration, which situates it in global networks. Increasingly imported labour migrants from distant regions of the world are complementing the growing shortage of labour supply, which cannot be met by migrations from countries in the region (mainly from Ukraine). OFWs have become an interesting example of labour migrants to Poland in recent years. According to the data of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, in 2018, a total of 2,676 employment permits were issued for them in Poland. Together with the citizens of Nepal, Bangladesh and India, they constitute an intensively growing category of economic migrants from South and Southeast Asia.
The latest participation of Poland in the global migration network is associated with an increasing number of institutionalized mechanisms of access to the labour market – ”entry points”. The new dimension of OFWs’ migration to Poland is related to the growing activity of employment agencies. In the case of the Philippines, government agencies such as Philippine Overseas Employment Administration – POEA, controlling the legality of companies and employers who decide to entrust migrants with work, become the most active. Statistical data also shows that in the years 2014 – 2015 there was a rapid increase in migration to Poland, therefore, the intermediary mechanisms have also changed. The OFWs’ example indicates the advantage of informal transnational mechanisms based on extensive networks of connections. Their careful examination deserves to be developed due to the unofficial nature of these mechanisms and possible abuse in this regard.
OFWs who reach Poland are also an interesting example of the so-called transmigrants whose lives depend on the network of connections established over national borders in everyday life. In this case, the project will fit into contemporary research on migrants, primarily transnationalism. What’s more, the project will complement the existing literature on the presence of Filipinos in Europe and the world, referring for the first time to the example of these migrations to Poland.
Implementing institution: Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Resocialisation – University of Warsaw
Duration: 2020-2024
Funded by: National Science Centre, project number 2019/35/O/HS6/02329