Poland's unemployment rate drops below 5% for the first time since 1990
Unemployment in Poland has fallen below 5% for the first time since 1990, when the country was transitioning from communism. According to new data from the state statistical agency GUS, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9% in June, down from 5% in May, meeting analysts' expectations.
The last time GUS recorded a lower figure was in August 1990, at 4.5%. Unemployment peaked at 20.7% in February 2003. In June, the total number of unemployed people in Poland was 762,200, the lowest since July 1990.
The Polish Economic Institute (PIE) attributes the drop to a favorable labor market and demographic changes, with Poland’s shrinking and aging population leading to fewer people being professionally active.
Economists at PKO Bank note that the decrease in unemployment is not entirely positive. Although unemployment typically falls in June, this year’s decline is weaker than in recent years, excluding the pandemic year of 2020, indicating subdued labor demand.
GUS data also show a decrease in the number of employed people in the first quarter, down by 138,000 compared to the same period last year, totaling 17.19 million.
In June 2022, GUS reported unemployment at 4.9%, but this was later revised to 5.2% after a methodology change incorporating new data on agricultural workers.
Poland currently has the second-lowest unemployment rate in the European Union. In May, Poland’s rate was 3%, higher only than the Czech Republic’s 2.7%. The highest rates were in Spain (11.7%), Greece (10.6%), and Sweden (8.4%). The EU average was 6%.
Eurostat’s figures for Poland differ from those of GUS due to different methodologies used to calculate the unemployment rate.