Poland: No signs of labour market deterioration in the future

Currently, the situation on the labour market is good, there are no signals that it will deteriorate in the future, Deputy Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy Jarosław Gajewski informed. He stressed that fewer announcements of collective redundancies had been made to labour offices than in previous years.

The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy said on Wednesday that, according to its estimates, the registered unemployment rate stood at 5.1% at the end of April 2024 (compared to 5.3% a month earlier).

"Unemployment is firstly - low, secondly - declining, thirdly - oscillating around the so-called natural unemployment, which occurs in every economy, including the one with very good indicators," Gajewski said during a meeting of the Sejm's Economy and Development Committee.

In his opinion, the good situation on the labour market will also continue in the future.

"There is a lack of worrying phenomena on the current labour market that could be a signal of a deterioration of the labour market situation or could suggest an increase in unemployment or a decrease in labour force participation in the future. In particular, it should be pointed out that at the moment we are not recording an increased number compared to previous years of notifications when it comes to collective redundancies," stressed the Deputy Minister.

He admitted that there is information in the public space about planned group redundancies.

"But firstly - this volume of planned group redundancies is lower than in previous years than in the corresponding periods [...]. Secondly - these are planned group layoffs, the volumes of which result from notifications that are addressed to labour offices, and practice, many years of experience, shows that employers generally lay off fewer or much fewer employees than they originally notify to the relevant labour offices," Gajewski pointed out.

This year's budget law stipulates that the registered unemployment rate will be 5.2% at the end of 2024.

Source: MRPiPS and ISBnews