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Shut Border Risks $47 Billion Migrant-Based Polish Industry

  • Builders call on government for aid as projects under threat
  • One in five Ukrainian construction workers have already left
A coronavirus symptoms testing on the Polish border with Germany in Jedzrychowice, Poland, on March 10.
A coronavirus symptoms testing on the Polish border with Germany in Jedzrychowice, Poland, on March 10.Photographer: Bartek Sadowski/Bloomberg
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The shutting of European borders in a bid to contain the coronavirus pandemic is about to derail a 200 billion-zloty ($47 billion) industry.

The Polish construction sector, which employs 400,000 people and accounts for 8% of gross domestic product, faces unprecedented trouble amid concerns over the Ukrainian workforce it depends on. The builders are gradually heading back to their homeland while would-be reinforcements can’t cross back into Poland.