Employers, Informality, and Migrant Precarity in Poland's Farm-to-Fork Sectors: Labour Market Drivers, Structural Effects, and Worker Vulnerabilities.

This paper examines employers’ practices across the food supply chain and their implications for formal and informal employment among migrant workers in Poland. Focusing on F2F sectors, characterised by high migrant concentration and persistent informality, the study analyses how employers’ strategies shape labour market segmentation, hiring decisions, and worker vulnerability. The analysis draws on a mixed-method design combining three data sources: a review of existing literature and statistical data, a 2025 survey of 300 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and two focus groups with sectoral experts, employer organisations, trade unions, and labour inspectors.

Despite generally stable economic conditions, rising labour costs and limited competitiveness encourage reliance on flexible and cost-minimising employment arrangements. Migrant employment has expanded, driven primarily by labour shortages and native workers’ declining willingness to accept low-paid or unstable jobs. Migrants, predominantly women from Ukraine, are concentrated in manual occupations and are more likely than natives to work under flexible, temporary, or civil-law contracts. While formally legal, these arrangements are frequently used to circumvent labour protections.

Indirect evidence points to widespread under-declaration of working hours and partial off-the-books payments, particularly in firms employing migrants and using temporary work agencies. Informality functions as a cost-reduction strategy for employers but increases migrants’ economic and legal vulnerability, limiting access to social protection and long-term residence. Weak and fragmented enforcement allows these practices to persist. Recent regulatory reforms targeting temporary work agencies are viewed positively but insufficient without stronger coordination, shared liability, and improved information for both employers and migrant workers.