This year the authorities were so concerned about the impact of the economic crisis on unemployment they opened a network of jobseekers’ advice offices.
They need not have worried. In Warsaw, the busiest section of the labour service deals, not with local unemployed, but with foreigners pouring into Poland. In the city’s central labour office, a yellow sign in reception reads: “If you [as an employer] have 10 or more requests for work permits for foreigners, please phone to make an appointment because there are so many requests coming in.”
