Poland: Vacancies are still relatively scarce from a historical perspective
The Job Vacancy Barometer, prepared by the Department of Economics and Finance of UITP in Rzeszów and the Bureau of Investment and Economic Cycles, indicating changes in the number of job advertisements published online, increased in March. After the positive but small changes observed so far this year, March's increase is pronounced and the largest since May 2022. Despite this, vacancies are still relatively scarce from a historical perspective. The number of jobs currently being advertised is the lowest in almost three years. We consider the weakened economic situation compared to previous years as the main reason for their low number. The best trends are in occupations related to occupational health and safety, tourism and manual work.
The registered unemployment rate, after excluding unemployed people taking part only in seasonal jobs, in February remained at the previous month's level of 5.1%. Compared to the value observed in the same period last year, there were 0.1 percentage points fewer unemployed.
By region, in March, after excluding seasonal jobs, an increase in the number of online job offers occurred in all but one province. The relatively largest monthly increases were recorded in the Mazowieckie, Śląskie and Lubelskie Voivodeships. Fewer vacancies than a month ago appeared only in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. Although in general there were more job advertisements than a month ago, they clearly increased faster in the voivodeships with a lower unemployment rate.
Of the broad groups of vacancies , the relatively largest increases were in manual occupations, where we are seeing a particularly marked rebound, and in services. For the first time since the beginning of the current downturn, a deceleration in downward trends has been recorded in all broad groups of vacancies at the same time. Occupations requiring education in science or engineering and social or legal sciences have the most to make up for.
In occupations requiring a degree in social or legal sciences, we note an increase in the number of job advertisements in March in most of the observed job categories. Relatively most new vacancies were announced for employees in real estate, finance and corporate procurement departments. Fewer vacancies than a month ago appeared for economists, human resources management workers and call centre workers. Over the past year, the largest number of vacancies has declined for economists and this negative trend continues unabated.
Among the group of job vacancies aimed at graduates in science or engineering, in March fewer vacancies than a month ago appeared only for employees in scientific and research units (R&D). In addition, this category has seen some of the largest declines to date, along with programming. However, in the latter category, the number of job vacancies is increasing so far in 2024. Other job vacancy categories have seen increases, with the relatively largest increases in e-commerce, programming and health and safety (H&S) occupations. Occupational health and safety remains the category of job vacancies in the science group for which there are relatively high numbers of job advertisements compared to previous years. The number of advertised vacancies in occupational health and safety is hovering just below the historical peak at the end of 2021. The number of advertised vacancies for construction workers is also increasing.
In the service occupations, only the media industry experienced a decrease in the number of job advertisements in March. In the other categories, vacancies were higher than a month ago. The relatively largest increases on a monthly basis were recorded in the education and tourism industries. After the strong reduction in the number of job advertisements observed during the second half of last year, the number of job offers for representatives of the education industry has been increasing for the past three months, although there are still fewer vacancies than a year ago. In tourism, on the other hand, after three months of growth, employers have almost made up for previous declines. The tourism industry remains one of the few sectors in which employer activity has not been significantly affected by the economic downturn. In the broader logistics sector, however, this year's increases have so far been very modest.
Source: BIEC
