Immigration: Migrant workers head home

Four years after Polish graphic designer Chris Rychter headed to Britain to find work and study as a citizen of the European Union, he and his wife have returned home, Reuters reported.
Part of a swelling tide of migration back east, they are having a house built in a suburb of the Polish capital.

"It took me just three days to find a job back in Warsaw," Rychter, 27, told Reuters. "We never saw Britain as home... We went for the adventure and to get some professional experience."

Their move highlights strong economic growth in the new EU member states and an accelerating slowdown in Britain - but also how quickly a pragmatic younger European generation has adapted to working in the 21st-century globalized economy.

Rychter's wife Sabina has brought her job with a British-based credit insurance company with her.

"You could say I am tele-commuting," she said. "In today's world, with computers and mobile phones, my presence in head office is not required as before. I can sit here in Warsaw and have the flexibility to do my job irrespective of time zones."

Helped by cheap travel as flights between Warsaw and London grew almost tenfold since Poland joined the EU in 2004, the Rychters show how Europe has shrunk and that - contrary to a popular view - migrant flows are not all one-way.

Economists now see a turnstile or pendulum effect of people moving between countries after quite short stints, in search of better conditions.

Republished with permission FOCUS Information Agency

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