Finding a job in Poland is taking longer, yet employers still say they cannot recruit the people they need. In the second quarter of 2026, the average job search lasted 9.2 months, up from 7.5 months in the first quarter of 2025. At the same time, 60% of companies reported difficulty finding suitable employees. The numbers point to a growing mismatch between the skills available in the labour market and the skills demanded by employers.
The latest data combine labour-market indicators from Statistics Poland with findings from the Human Capital Balance study carried out by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the Jagiellonian University’s Centre for Evaluation and Analysis of Public Policies.
More people are spending longer out of work
The average duration of a job search increased by 1.7 months between early 2025 and the second quarter of 2026. The share of long-term unemployed people also rose, from 16.8% to 21.8% of all unemployed people.
That would normally suggest employers have more candidates to choose from. But the employer-side data tell a different story. In 2025, 60% of companies said they had difficulty finding suitable workers. The problem was especially acute in professional services, healthcare and social care, and industrial and mining activities.
The issue is increasingly about fit, not only supply
Skills mismatch means that people are available for work, but their capabilities do not fully match the requirements of open roles. The mismatch can involve technical expertise, digital skills, industry-specific qualifications or broader capabilities such as communication, organisation and adaptability.
Employers increasingly expect a combination of occupational knowledge and transferable skills. Responsibility, time management, reliability and the ability to organise one’s own work are highly valued across many roles. At the same time, companies report difficulty finding candidates who consistently demonstrate these qualities.
Different jobs require different combinations of skills
For managers, employers place particular emphasis on teamwork, communication, responsibility, time management, willingness to learn and the ability to adapt. Digital and analytical skills are also increasingly important, including the ability to work with software and verify information.
For specialists, technicians and mid-level professionals, determination, learning ability and analytical thinking rank highly alongside formal expertise. Office staff, service workers and sales employees are expected to combine interpersonal skills with organisation and adaptability.
In manual occupations, employers still need technical ability and experience with machinery, but self-management, teamwork and reliability are becoming increasingly important as well.
The more complex the job, the harder the match
The mismatch becomes more visible as jobs grow more complex. Specialist and technical roles increasingly require candidates to combine deep occupational knowledge with digital, analytical and interpersonal capabilities. A candidate may meet the formal qualification requirements and still fall short of the broader profile expected by the employer.
This helps explain the apparent contradiction in Poland’s labour market: job seekers are taking longer to find employment, while companies continue to complain about recruitment difficulties. The market is not simply short of people. It is short of the right combinations of skills in the right places.
Training and recruitment strategies will need to adjust
For employers, the data suggest that recruiting exclusively for a near-perfect match may become increasingly difficult. Companies may need to invest more in internal training, clearer job design and structured development paths. For workers, the findings underline the growing value of transferable skills alongside formal qualifications.
The labour-market debate is therefore shifting from a simple question — how many people are available? — to a more difficult one: whether the skills available are aligned with the work companies are actually trying to fill.
Sources: Statistics Poland; Human Capital Balance (BKL), Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and Jagiellonian University.
