http://ft.onet.pl/0,5387,gone_west_why_eastern_europe_is_labouring_und er_an_abundance_of_jobs,artykul_ft.htmlWhile unemployment levels in western Europe have stayed at around 8 per cent since 2002, in the east they have slid from 14 per cent to under 9 per cent. In the region’s booming capital cities, almost everybody who wants work has a job. Leszek Wronski, head of the central Europe division of KPMG, the accountant and management consultant, says: “We have a job market controlled by employees.”
But just as EU accession has made it easier for workers to move west, it has made life harder for would-be migrants from further east. Ukrainians, who enjoyed visa-free travel to Poland, now face bureaucratic hurdles. Moldovans have difficulty entering Romania. Employers want an easing of restrictions. They are also recruiting labour further afield by, for example, bringing in workers from Vietnam, China and North Korea on short-term contracts.
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