The Polish Central Statistical Office (GUS) reported that August’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.1%. The seasonally adjusted rate however was closer to 6.3%, which is marginally down on July’s seasonally adjusted rate of 6.4%. Based on the non adjusted figures, the number of people registered unemployed in August amounted to just under 1.03 million.
Poland had recorded its lowest ever seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 5.1% in February 2020 – more than half the rate it recorded in February 2015 (11.1%) – however, the impact of Covid-19 has resulted in an almost 25% increase in the unemployment rate (5.1% vs 6.3%).
Based on non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates, the cities of Katowice (1.5%), Warsaw (1.8%), Poznan (1.8%), Wroclaw (2.4%) and Krakow (2.7%) all recorded unemployment rates well below the national figure of 6.1%.
Key sectors such as Manufacturing, Agriculture, Business Services, Technology Services show signs of resilience in spite of the macro-economic impacts of Covid-19, stabilising the economy, reducing the amount of government stimulus, and boosting domestic consumption – a key indicator of Poland’s progress toward EU financial convergence.
Sources from the Central Statistics Office (GUS):