London calling? One in three Poles wants to work abroad - and 300,000 could emigrate this year

By Adrian Colley for the Daily Mail

Published: 11:34 EDT, 17 April 2013 | Updated: 11:34 EDT, 17 April 2013

Polish employment figures just released show the number of people wanting to find work in places like Britain has more than doubled in just a year.

The study - by Warsaw's Homo Homini Institute - showed nearly a third of workers want to emigrate to places like the UK, Germany and Sweden.

Pollsters believe that the number now actively looking to leave Poland this year could top 300,000.

Here we go: Poles show their patriotic spirit during last year's Euro 2012 championships, but they are still keen on pastures new

Here we go: Poles show their patriotic spirit during last year's Euro 2012 championships, but they are still keen on pastures new

The new figures show the number of men who want to work overseas has more than doubled - from 15 to 36 per cent.

Experts say this will lead to a second, even larger migrant wave as wives and children follow in their wake.

The United Kingdom has proved a popular destination with Poles who have moved in droves since 2004. It looks set to continue to be a popular destination.

Population expert Professor Krystyna Iglicka - from Warsaw's Lazarski University - added: "At the moment, we have approximately one million Polish citizens who have decided to stay permanently in their new countries."

A recent said that while Eastern European workers in Britain are more likely to have jobs than locals, their jobs are often among the most low paid.

The lure of living near sights like the Houses of Parliament in London is still attractive to people in Poland

The lure of living near sights like the Houses of Parliament in London is still attractive to people in Poland and more of them are looking to leave their homeland

This appears to support the long-held argument that many migrants are more willing to take low-paid jobs than those of British birth.

As early as 2007, official figures showed that four out of five newly-created jobs were going to migrants.