Local authorities in Poland plan to launch a billboard advertising campaign in Ireland and the UK to attract back some of the thousands of workers who have left the country in the last two years.
While Poland's unemployment rate is around 18 per cent, cities such as Wroclaw, capital of the country's southwestern province, are finding it difficult to find workers in areas such as IT and finance.
The city's local authority is planning a campaign with slogans such as "Come and settle in Wroclaw", and will distribute leaflets in churches, discos and other gathering points for the Polish community.
Pawel Panczyj, president of Wroclaw's development agency, said the campaign would begin in September and be directed mostly at young people.
Poland's ambassador to Ireland Witold Sobkow said he supported the campaign which he hoped could help prevent a "brain drain". However, the lure of higher wages outside Poland would remain a major draw for many workers.
"At the moment someone working in construction or as a childminder can earn around €400 a month in Poland but up to €2,000 in Ireland. That will continue to be the case for some time."
The Polish recruitment campaign has attracted a mixed reaction from a number of quarters.
Krzysztof Adamus of recruitment firm Adecco Poland said the campaign was a good idea. However, Jacek Redaktor, a journalist with the Dublin-based newspaper Gazeta Polska, said it sounded more like a "public relations stunt" and predicted it would have no significant impact.
