Dataset of Ukrainian migrant workers opinions on their stay in Poland during COVID-19 lockdown

The study contains a dataset from survey on the opinions of labour migrants from Ukraine in Poland, collected at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (conducted in May and June 2020) were 617 migrant workers from Ukraine who remained in Poland during the first period of the pandemic in Poland. Due to limitations in face-to-face contact, the survey was conducted online (Google Forms questionnaire). The developed questionnaire was available in three languages: Ukrainian, Polish and Russian. The researchers were supported in sending the questionnaire by NGOs, Ukrainian minority organisations, as well as labour migrants from Ukraine who had participated in previous research conducted by the team. The questionnaire contained 34 questions (in three languages: Ukrainian, Polish and Russian), including attribute variables of the participants). Questions addressed issues such as perception of COVID risks, changes in the respondent's labor market situation, and assessment of their quality-of-life changes. The study will contribute to the knowledge of institutions and NGOs that work with labour migrants. The data collected provides a starting point for comparing the situation of migrant workers one year after the pandemic. The results of the study can be taken into account when planning migration management in the host country.


a b s t r a c t
The study contains a dataset from survey on the opinions of labour migrants from Ukraine in Poland, collected at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (conducted in May and June 2020) were 617 migrant workers from Ukraine who remained in Poland during the first period of the pandemic in Poland. Due to limitations in face-to-face contact, the survey was conducted online (Google Forms questionnaire). The developed questionnaire was available in three languages: Ukrainian, Polish and Russian. The researchers were supported in sending the questionnaire by NGOs, Ukrainian minority organisations, as well as labour migrants from Ukraine who had participated in previous research conducted by the team. The questionnaire contained 34 questions (in three languages: Ukrainian, Polish and Russian), including attribute variables of the participants). Questions addressed issues such as perception of COVID risks, changes in the respondent's labor market situation, and assessment of their quality-of-life changes. The study will contribute to the knowledge of institutions and NGOs that work with labour migrants. The data collected provides a starting point for comparing the situation of migrant workers one year after the pandemic. The results of the study can be taken into account when planning migration management in the host country.

Value of the Data
• The survey contributes to the expertise of institutions and NGOs that work with labour migrants. The pandemic situation increases the amount of information that migrants had to understand both in the area of work and the possibility to get help. It is important to notice the problems of people who, due to insufficient knowledge of the language of the host country, did not understand all the safety information and lockdown measures. • The dataset concerns labor migrants' obtaining information about restrictions or seeking information about possible support from the host country. The results can be important for both NGOs and social support institutions about how, where, and in what language (whether migrants' language is relevant or whether they rather get information from sites in the language of the host country) to post relevant information.
• The data provides a starting point for comparing the situation of migrant workers one year after the pandemic. It should be noted that more pandemics are possible in the future, so the results of the study can be taken into account when planning migration management in the host country.

Data Description
From mid-March 2020, restrictions have been introduced in relation to the epidemiological threat. The aim of the survey was to identify the difficulties faced by Ukrainian citizens who have stayed in Poland.
The survey was provided by research team from following Polish scientific institutions: Institute of Political Science and Security Studies at the University of Szczecin, the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna ń and the Institute of Political Science and Administration at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszy ński University, Warsaw.
In the description and tables below, we only present summaries of quantitative data. Text responses to the two open-ended questions is available in the data file (dataset and the questionnaire -translated to English -can be found in the attached link to Mendeley data repository).
The survey involved 617 respondents aged 19 to 79, with a significant majority of women (71.3%). More than half of the respondents have been living in Poland for more than 2 years (after adding up the answers "2-5 years'' and "more than 5 years''). Mazowieckie and Zachodniopomorskie voivodships were the most represented in the sample, but this over-representation should not affect further analysis of the situation of migrants during the pandemic, as in the surveyed period, different rules and restrictions for different regions had not yet been introduced (the same regulations applied throughout Poland). Respondents living in large cities were dominant (34.2% live in a city of 10 0,0 0 0 to 50 0,0 0 0 residents, and 27.4% resided in a city of more than half a million residents) (see Table 1 Socio-demographic variables).
The vast majority of respondents believe that staying in Poland during the pandemic was a good choice (See Table 2 ). Among the costs associated with staying in the country, the respondents mention above all the fear of relatives' illness (45.9% of all cases), or their own illness (18.2%) (See Table 3 with multiple answers). 49.1% of respondents declared that their economic situation deteriorated during the pandemic, 47.5% that it did not change. 9.1% declared the pandemic forced them to apply for social care benefits (this level remains unchanged as 11.8% say they received benefits before the pandemic). The most frequently mentioned reasons for the deterioration of respondent situation were: reduced salaries, food price increases, loss of the job (see Table 5 ).
According to the respondents the most common reasons for staying in Poland were having a job (59.2%) and having plans to live in Poland (45.2%). For 23.7% the reason for staying in Poland was better (than in Ukraine) medical care (see Table 6 ). The decision of the Polish authorities to close the borders was assessed positively by the migrant workers surveyed. The most frequently identified source of information about regulations during a pandemic by respondents was their employer and websites (Facebook included) (see Table 7 ).
Most respondents believe that the pandemic has not changed attitudes of Poles towards Ukrainians (69.5%) or attitudes of employers towards the respondent (56.4%). However, only 8.9% of respondents said that the pandemic has helped Ukrainians in Poland help each other more (see Tables 8 -10 ).

Experimental Design, Materials and Methods
The situation of migrant workers in pandemic conditions is specific [1,2] and includes issues such as cut-off of return/limitation of mobility, overcoming language barriers to accessing safety information, changes in the labour market (layoffs, bankruptcies, work stoppages).
The questionnaire was referring to these issues and developed on the basis of studies on migrant workers' opinions regarding crisis situations and changes in living conditions in the host country [1][2][3][4] .
The questionnaire contained 34 questions (in three languages: Ukrainian, Polish and Russian), including attribute variables of the participants). Questions addressed issues such as perception of COVID risks, changes in the respondent's labor market situation, and assessment of their quality-of-life changes.
The survey was conducted in May and June 2020 using an online form. The participants were 617 Ukrainian migrant workers who have remained in Poland during first COVID-19 lockdown. Participation was voluntary and participants were allowed to refuse or withdraw from the survey at any time.
Only the completed questionnaires were included in the dataset. The questionnaire (pdf attached) and raw data were translated into English. Data were processed anonymously; For descriptive statistics Excel file was imported to IBM SPSS 26.

Ethics Statement
This manuscript has not been published elsewhere or it is not under consideration for publication for other journals. Participants were fully instructed about the survey aim and requirements and were informed that by agreeing to fill in the web questionnaire they confirmed their participation, automatically providing an informed consent. The Commission for Ethics for Social Science Research of University of Szczecin Institute confirmed that in accordance with the national legislation appropriate informed consent was obtained (approval number BN/01/03/2020). The survey did not collect any identifiable information from the participants.

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships which have or could be perceived to have influenced the work reported in this article.

Supplementary Materials
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found in the online version at doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2021.107415 .