At the end of August 2026, 909,500 people were registered as unemployed in Poland and the national registered unemployment rate stood at 5.8%. Regional and local data show much wider differences: unemployment ranged from 3.8% to 9.2% across voivodeships and from 1.4% to 22.8% across counties and cities with county status.
Wielkopolskie recorded the lowest regional unemployment rate at 3.8%, followed by Mazowieckie at 4.5%, Śląskie at 4.8% and Małopolskie at 5.0%.
At the other end of the ranking, Warmińsko-Mazurskie recorded 9.2%, Podkarpackie 9.1%, Świętokrzyskie 8.5%, Lubelskie 8.1% and Kujawsko-Pomorskie 7.7%.
Registered unemployment by voivodeship
End of August 2026, %
Warmińsko-Mazurskie 9.2%
Podkarpackie 9.1%
Świętokrzyskie 8.5%
Małopolskie 5.0%
Mazowieckie 4.5%
Wielkopolskie 3.8%
Poland: 5.8%. Source: Statistics Poland (GUS).
From 1.4% to 22.8% unemployment
The highest unemployment rate in Poland was recorded in Szydłowiec county in Mazowieckie at 22.8%, almost four times the national average.
Brzozów county in Podkarpackie recorded 19.0%, Przysucha county in Mazowieckie 18.0%, while Maków and Lesko counties were both at 17.3%. In total, 101 out of 380 counties and cities with county status had unemployment of at least 10%, and 19 had a rate of at least 15%.
At the opposite end of the scale, Poznań county recorded just 1.4%. Warsaw and the city of Poznań were both at 1.6%, Katowice at 1.8% and Kępno county at 1.9%.
Mazowieckie shows the scale of local disparities
Mazowieckie had a regional unemployment rate of only 4.5%, well below the national average, yet it also contained the county with Poland’s highest unemployment rate.
Warsaw stood at 1.6%, compared with 22.8% in Szydłowiec county — a difference of 21.2 percentage points. Przysucha county recorded 18.0%, Maków county 17.3% and Radom county 16.3%.
Largest number of registered unemployed in Mazowieckie
Measured by the number of registered unemployed rather than the rate, Mazowieckie ranked first with 123,000 people. Śląskie had 83,800, Małopolskie 73,700, Podkarpackie 70,800 and Dolnośląskie 66,100.
The contrast illustrates the difference between the unemployment rate and the absolute number of people without work: large urban labour markets can have relatively low rates while still accounting for large numbers of registered unemployed.
Source: Statistics Poland (GUS), data for the end of August 2026.
