The minimum wage starts to exceed entrepreneurs’ abilities. “4666 złotych is objectively a high minimum wage”.
– High and non-consulted with entrepreneurs – such is the increase in the minimum wage according to members of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin. – After the cascading increases in the minimum wage, we were hoping for a change in the standards of discussion about what it should be, when it should increase, and what values can be aggregated by entrepreneurs. Currently, the increase will again cause sectors operating at lower margins, such as services, trade or tourism, to be forced to raise prices or optimize jobs. This is also bad news for local governments, because wage gaps will continue to grow – says Hanna Mojsiuk, President of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin.
“We are proponents of the market regulating the minimum wage”
4666 złotych gross, or over 30 złotych gross per hour. This will be the minimum wage from January 2025. This amount is higher than the one given for public opinion in June. At the same time, the Polish Government has resigned from raising the minimum wage twice a year, as was the case in 2023 and 2024.
– The increase in the minimum wage should always reflect the economic situation. If we are dealing with dynamic growth, entrepreneurs are hiring, and pressure from the employee side forces them to increase salaries. We are advocates for the market to regulate the minimum wage, as it is the most natural indicator of companies’ economic situation – says Hanna Mojsiuk, President of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin.
– If the minimum wage rises above entrepreneurs’ capabilities, we have to deal with the need for optimization processes or simply raising prices, which is noticeable and visible in service sectors, but also in trade or transport. We mustn’t forget that inflation has not yet completely said goodbye to us, and the last quarter month by month shows minimal increases in this area. 4666 złotych gross is objectively speaking a very high minimum wage – says Dr. Katarzyna Kazojć, economist, President of the Business Innovation Networking foundation.
The last such increase? According to the EU directive, the minimum wage in Poland would oscillate around 4000 złotych gross
The raise of the minimum wage in 2025 will have significant consequences for entrepreneurs, especially small and medium-sized companies, which will face challenges associated with the increase in labor costs.
– This increase may lead to the need for reducing employment or reducing the number of jobs, which has been observed previously in small enterprises. The flattening of wage differences between employees with different job seniority, especially for young employees on civil law contracts, is an additional problem that may intensify with a further increase in the minimum wage. The level of social security contributions, dependent on the level of salaries, also increases the financial burden on employers, which can negatively affect the competitiveness of Polish companies in international markets – says Agnieszka Zamaro-Wiśniewska, economic expert, tax specialist.
Labor market experts argue that the situation in the labor market is stabilized despite group layoffs in several regions in Poland.
– The wage in many sectors of the economy significantly differs from the minimum wage, let alone the average national salary. Recently, there has been a large shortage of workers, primarily in the industry and transportation. There are many job offers for forwarders, international drivers, but also for assemblers, welders, or locksmiths. Here the financial pressure is intensified, not by the increase in the minimum wage, but by high competition for Polish specialists with other countries. There is also a shortage of accountants and administration specialists. Here the financial offers of employers strongly differ from the expectations of employees, and the increase in the minimum wage will only deepen these differences – says the labor market expert of the IDEA HR Group, Dorota Siedziniewska-Brzeźniak.
The introduction of changes in determining the minimum wage from 2026, in accordance with the EU directive, may somewhat alleviate the pressure on employers, adjusting increases to real economic indicators. According to the latest data, the minimum wage determined according to the directive would be in the range between 3929 zł and 4019 zł gross.
Source: https://managerplus.pl/placa-minimalna-rosnacym-obciazeniem-dla-przedsiebiorcow-koszty-pracy-uderza-w-handel-i-uslugi-52928
