Photo by Ivan Stanislavskyi/Tvoe Misto
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Almost 50% of Ukrainian refugees who temporarily settled in Poland want to return to Ukraine as soon as the war ends. At the same time, 17% of refugees plan to stay in Poland forever. Natalia Zaitseva-Chipak, director of the Ukrainian center for the study of public opinion «Sotsioinform», reported such data.
«People are worried about whether they will have a job here and a decent salary. We can say that Lviv is experiencing a lack of personnel, but do smaller towns feel it? In Lviv, the salary level is quite competitive, but is it in smaller towns of the same Lviv region, where many IDPs currently live? In addition, if we talk about all immigrants who went to Europe, then 79% want to return, and from Poland to Ukraine – 50%. Poles assimilate them there very quickly,» – the sociologist emphasizes.
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On the other hand, the director of the Lviv Regional Employment Center, Vasyl Barylyuk, is sure that Ukrainians will return from abroad, at least because of the need to find and pay for housing there and get a job.
The Interdisciplinary Laboratory of War Research conducted the survey in Ukraine from April 15 to May 10 among Ukrainians who crossed the border to Poland. Method: web interview. The total number of respondents is 737 people. The majority of respondents are women (97%), the average age is 36 years, 76% of them have a higher education.
According to the UN, more than 7 million people have left Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, and only 2.5 have returned. Experts predict the second wave of migration and 5 more million people may leave Ukraine. Former Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Pavlo Sheremeta says: this is fatally high. Whether this situation is really critical, how we can change it and what challenges regarding the economy, employment and housing for IDPs have appeared in the Lviv region and the country were discussed during the discussion on Tvoemisto.tv.
By Olha Koval
Translated by Kateryna Bortniak
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
