Poland’s labour market entered 2026 in visibly weaker condition, with unemployment rising, employment falling and the number of job offers sharply declining, according to the latest data from Statistics Poland and an analysis by the Gremi Personal Analytical Centre.
The unemployment rate increased to 6.1%, up 0.7 percentage points year on year, while the number of registered unemployed people reached 956,200. At the same time, employment in the enterprise sector fell in February to 6.71 million people, down 0.8% year on year. The number of job offers submitted to labour offices dropped by 67% year on year to 21,700.
The scale of announced collective redundancies also rose by 50%, confirming growing restructuring pressure in the economy.
Labour market loses momentum
The latest figures suggest that Poland’s labour market has entered a phase of clear slowdown. The rise in unemployment to 6.1% marks not only a deterioration compared with the previous year, but also an acceleration of negative trends seen in recent months.
The sharp fall in job offers is particularly significant. Even allowing for regulatory changes, the 67% year-on-year decline points to a real reduction in recruitment activity and a much more cautious approach by companies to hiring new staff.
Employment in the enterprise sector stood at 6.71 million at the beginning of 2026, down by 53,000 compared with a year earlier. Although monthly changes remain limited, the annual trend shows a gradual contraction of the labour market.
In recent months, at least ten large companies have publicly announced workforce reductions covering several thousand employees. At the same time, the advantage of companies planning recruitment over those expecting layoffs is narrowing, indicating that earlier pressure to expand employment is fading.
“Data from the beginning of the year show that the labour market is no longer resistant to the economic slowdown. We are entering a stage in which hiring decisions are increasingly cautious, and efficiency is becoming more important than the scale of employment. This is a qualitative change that will shape the labour market in the coming quarters,” said Evgenij Kirichenko, founder of the Gremi Personal Analytical Centre.
Collective redundancies accelerate
Labour office data show a clear acceleration in restructuring processes. In the first months of 2026, companies reported plans for collective redundancies covering 9,060 people, an increase of 50% year on year.
The number of ongoing procedures is also rising. At the end of February, they covered 18,576 people, up 16% year on year. This means that a growing part of the economy is already in the phase of active employment adjustment, rather than merely planning reductions.
In addition, 41,000 people were dismissed directly at the initiative of employers, an increase of 11.9% year on year. This includes job cuts, position liquidations and company bankruptcies.
Industry weakens while services stabilise employment
Employment trends are becoming increasingly divided across sectors. In manufacturing, employment fell by 1.4% year on year to around 2.37 million people. The steepest declines were recorded in automotive production, down 3.4%, furniture manufacturing, down 3.1%, machinery production, down 1.2%, and metal products, also down 1.2%.
Similar trends are visible in construction and wholesale trade, confirming the broad nature of the slowdown in cyclical sectors.
Some service segments and selected industrial branches remain on a growth path. Employment is increasing in logistics, up 0.5%, HoReCa, up 2.1%, electronics manufacturing, up 1.7%, and production of transport equipment other than automotive, up 2.6%, including defence-related segments.
The role of foreign workers is also growing. Their number increased by 9% year on year to 1.291 million, including 860,800 Ukrainian workers, up 9.9%. In many sectors, this continues to stabilise day-to-day labour market operations.
Economy increasingly reliant on consumption
The macroeconomic picture at the start of 2026 remains mixed. On the one hand, domestic consumption remains relatively stable. Retail sales rose by 5% year on year in February, after increasing by 4.4% in January, showing that households remain a key factor supporting economic activity.
On the other hand, industry and construction remain under pressure. Industrial production in the first two months of the year showed no real growth, while the value of construction works fell by 6.2% year on year. Exports declined by 4.6% year on year in January and imports by 8.4%, indicating a weaker external component and a greater dependence of growth on domestic demand.
New export orders in industry are also falling, confirming a further shift in the structure of growth towards internal consumption.
“Economic growth is increasingly based on domestic consumption, while exports and investment are ceasing to act as engines of the economy,” Kirichenko said.
Wage growth slows
Wage growth also slowed at the beginning of 2026. In February, the average gross wage increased by 6.07% year on year to PLN 9,135.70, compared with 6.13% in January and significantly higher levels recorded in the second half of 2025.
The slowdown reflects both cyclical and structural factors. On the one hand, wage pressure is easing as the labour market weakens. On the other, statistics are affected by structural changes such as the increase in the minimum wage to PLN 4,806 gross and employment reductions in lower-paid segments of the labour market.
Sectoral differences are also becoming more visible. In the automotive sector, wages rose by 8.75%, while in the food industry the increase was 3.62%, showing growing divergence in wage dynamics across the economy.
Poland’s labour market reaches a turning point
The latest data from Statistics Poland and the analysis by the Gremi Personal Analytical Centre indicate that the Polish economy entered 2026 in a phase of selective slowdown. The labour market is losing momentum, unemployment is rising and restructuring is becoming more widespread.
Economic activity is being supported by domestic consumption, while industry, exports and parts of investment activity are weakening. As a result, a model of growth based on sectoral imbalance is becoming increasingly visible, with macroeconomic stability no longer translating proportionally into employment conditions or labour market strength.
