Pologne

Based on the OECD data from the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) this paper sheds light on the skills of migrants. In line with earlier research the data show that migrants from Poland are more likely to have a tertiary degree than peers at home, but they often work in elementary professions abroad that do not match these high qualifications. This may well be at least partly a language issue, as migrants from Poland resemble migrants from other low-income countries in that their numeracy and literacy skills in the language of their host country is markedly lower than the average across all PIAAC participants, migrants or not. This gap is smaller, though, when looking only at migrants who report having been tested in a language that they use often and master well. The data reveal an interesting difference with migrants from higher-income countries, as their test results do not differ from the average, although they face the same language issues as other migrants. The reason may well be that only migrants from low-income countries can hope to earn higher wages abroad even if they work in low-skill professions, while migrants from higher-income countries need to master the language of their host country to do well. In fact, Polish migrants earn higher wages than their peers who stayed at home, even though they are particularly often overqualified.

DOI: 10.1787/5jlpq7tg3hxs-en

With the rising economic importance of human resources and skills, employment and training agencies are often expected to play a more important role in local strategies to support new job creation, facilitate restructuring and increase productivity. The OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme has developed a series of reviews on Local Job Creation to examine the contribution of local labour market policy to boosting quality employment and enhancing productivity. For Poland, the review has looked at the range of institutions and bodies involved in employment and skills policies, focusing on local strategies in the city of Poznań and the Radomski sub-region.

DOI: 10.1787/9789264256521-en

This paper studies the shift from manual to cognitive work in 10 economies of Central and Eastern Europe. It highlights the growth in the non-routine cognitive component of jobs, but pay particular attention to the increase in routine cognitive tasks, a trend that is pronounced in the CEE economies but absent in the most advanced economies. It shows that workforce upgrading and structural change were the main factors behind the increase in all cognitive tasks, but that the growth in routine cognitive tasks is partly attributable to rising shares of routine-intensive occupations. It identifies two groups of workers whose jobs depend most on performing routine cognitive tasks: middle-skilled men in the manufacturing sectors and middle-skilled women in the service sectors, who jointly represent 33% of workers in CEE. It finds that robust employment and wage growth among routine cognitive workers has so far prevented job polarisation in CEE. However, the relative prices of routine cognitive tasks are already higher than those of other tasks. If the prices of routine cognitive tasks rise further while technological progress continues, routine intensive employment may gradually decline. It concludes with policy implications of the findings.