Abstract:

Europe, including Poland, features an increasing demand for labour in the elderly care    services. There is an increasing employment of foreigners coming mostly from Ukraine in this segment. Work in the elderly care sector is viewed as unappealing, burdensome, relatively low-paid, thus the little interest from the domestic workforce. The article describes the results of 42 individual in-depth interviews conducted with foreigners that take care of elderly people. The sampling of respondents was done by using the snowball method and Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS). The group of respondents included persons living with their charge (so-called living-in) and persons renting an apartment and providing hourly care (so-called livng-out). The group features both legally and illegally employed persons. The purpose of the study, among others, was to determine the profile of an immigrant taking up work in the elderly care sector, including the specification of his or her education and competencies. It was determined that 70% of the respondents has higher education, including 30% with nursing or physiotherapeutic education. Thus far, Poland featured no studies of foreigners working in the elderly care sector, which is why the results have substantial cognitive value.