Today, we are talking about full economic integration, about employees of local companies and businesses. However, many of them live every day in a specific "financial split" – physically they are here and earn in zlotys, but mentally and financially they manage a second life in Ukraine, operating in hryvnias.

Employment in Lubań County and family support: The dilemma of two wallets

Although the labour market in Lubań County may not be as absorptive as in Wrocław or Poznań, it offers stability. For many Ukrainians, working in Lubań or the surrounding area has become a solid foundation for a new life, especially since the local economy, benefiting from the proximity of the A4 motorway and the German border, regularly seeks workers.

The main pillars of employment in the region in 2025 are primarily:

  • Care sector. Mainly care for seniors, where trust in female workers from Ukraine is traditionally high.
  • Local manufacturing plants. Small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises that form the foundation of the county’s economy and often seek operators.
  • Logistics and transport. A sector that is growing dynamically thanks to Lubań’s strategic geographical location near the border.

Their salary, paid in zlotys (PLN), must nevertheless meet two parallel and sometimes conflicting goals. The first is, of course, living and supporting themselves in Poland. The costs of renting a flat in Lubań, everyday shopping and children’s education – all of this has become a local, Polish expense.

The second, often priority goal, is supporting the family that remained in Ukraine. This creates a constant "two-wallet" dilemma. An employee in Poland becomes the remote financial manager of a family hundreds of kilometres away. Every day, they check not only the balance of their Polish account, but above all the PLN/UAH exchange rate.

Currency fluctuations, which are abstract to a local resident, represent a real difference for a Ukrainian in the value of the support they can send. Sending PLN 1,000 one day may provide 10,500 hryvnias, while the next day, at an unfavourable exchange rate, it may provide only 9,800.

This is a psychological burden, as the budget of their loved ones depends on their ability to monitor exchange rates. Therefore, choosing the right money-transfer service – whether to use traditional SWIFT bank transfers or modern fintech applications such as Wise, Paysend and Revolut – is a crucial optimisation decision for them. Every grosz saved on a commission represents real help for their loved ones.

Financial "split": A Polish account, Ukrainian obligations

Family support is only part of this financial "split", however. A much more stressful and complicated aspect is managing current obligations and liabilities that remain in Ukraine. In 2025, many Ukrainians still own property in their country of origin, have active contracts or have unresolved financial matters.

A person working in Lubań therefore has to pay utility bills – electricity, gas and water – from their Polish account for a flat in Kyiv, Kharkiv or Lviv, so that their parents can live there comfortably. They must manage insurance, taxes and even minor repairs remotely.

This also often includes tuition fees for children studying at Ukrainian universities or repayment of old consumer debts taken on before 2022.

Sometimes there is an urgent need to settle obligations quickly. For a Polish employer or neighbour, this is an invisible problem, but for a Ukrainian it may be the main concern of the week. For example, an employee physically staying in Lubań receives an urgent call from family in Ukraine, who must immediately cover unexpected expenses, saying plainly that they need a loan of 10,000 UAH. Such a situation forces them to quickly convert the amount into zlotys and arrange an international transfer from their Polish account.

Managing such matters remotely is psychologically burdensome. It requires not only transferring funds, but also constantly monitoring Ukrainian banking applications such as Privat24 and Mono, contacting Ukrainian institutions and resolving problems in a foreign currency while physically carrying out their duties at a Polish workplace. It is like having a second, invisible job as a financial manager.

From employee to consumer: How are Ukrainians changing Lubań’s local economy?

In the first years, Poles viewed Ukrainians mainly through the lens of the labour market – as workers filling staffing gaps. In 2025, this perspective underwent a fundamental change. Ukrainians have become a key and integral part of Lubań’s local economy, primarily as consumers and taxpayers.

Income stabilisation has meant that they no longer send every zloty they earn abroad. An increasing share of their budget is spent locally. To a large extent, they are stabilising the local rental market.

While at first they mainly lived in employer-provided accommodation, today they increasingly rent private flats, entering the commercial market. Every day, they shop in local stores and use the services of hairdressers, car mechanics and restaurants.

Moreover, we are seeing the next stage of integration: setting up their own businesses. New service outlets are appearing in Lubań and the surrounding area – beauty salons offering manicures and eyelash services, small eateries with Ukrainian specialities such as chebureki and pelmeni, and renovation companies – run by new residents. They enrich the local offering and create new jobs.

Paradoxically, the problem of "two worlds" appears again here. When a Ukrainian who already pays taxes in Lubań wants to grow and, for example, buy a car on lease, which is essential for a renovation company, or purchase furniture in instalments from a Polish shop, they encounter a barrier. It is a "clean BIK" – the Polish Credit Information Bureau. Their many years of often flawless credit history in Ukraine is invisible to Polish banks. This limits their consumer potential and full integration, showing that although they are physically fully integrated into the local community, systemically they still remain at the intersection of two different financial worlds.