Deputy Inna Gardiner and Edyta Buard, the community liaison officer for Catholic social action organisation Caritas Jersey, said that rising living costs, improved employment prospects elsewhere and the desire to be closer to loved ones were causing the trend, which was being seen in other migrant communities too.
And Deputy Gardiner, who works closely with the migrant community, said that many local people were also leaving as they struggled with affordability in Jersey, particularly in the housing market.
Businesses across the Island have reported staff shortages in recent months with the economy reopening following the vaccine rollout, blaming tighter controls on travel following Brexit and Covid-19.
Ms Buard said that the pandemic had prompted many migrant workers to want to live closer to their families at home, with no end in sight to travel restrictions.
‘A lot of people are moving back. The first reason is because before Covid they were able to travel freely and after they are not,’ she said.
‘They don’t see things improving in the future and they have realised that it is more important to be closer to families, so they are going to work in Poland, or maybe somewhere else closer like Germany, France or Italy.’
She added: ‘An exodus is happening and there are a number of reasons for it. The economy is doing better back in Poland than it was. Some of the Polish people here already had a good financial status and are looking to continue doing the same job working from home abroad.
‘And for people who were on lower incomes they weren’t able to earn a living over here, so they have decided it was a better option to leave.’
She added that she believed a number of Poles had taken advantage of Jersey’s property boom to sell their houses for a large profit before moving back home.
Deputy Gardiner said that regular and accurate figures on population now need to be put together by the government to inform decision-making.
‘It is only anecdotal but from what I have heard about half the Polish community may have left. There is not only that community here, there is also the Portuguese, Romanian and others,’ she said.
‘I think a lot of them have left because their English is now very good and when trying to get work in Poland they are very competitive. A lot of them now want to live closer to their families and also for those who have lived here for less than five years they are not entitled to a lot of benefits, like long-term care.
‘There are those who are struggling to afford accommodation and the cost of living. But that is an issue even for young local people, who are moving to the UK because they cannot afford it here.’
She added: ‘I really think we should have live statistics on population in Jersey. How can you form policy without accurate statistics? I would like to see the results of the census published as soon as possible.
‘We need to know how businesses are going to find the staff they need because businesses do not function without people.’
