According to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy's estimates, the registered unemployment rate at the end of 2024 was 5.1 per cent, the same as a year ago and 0.1 percentage points higher than in the previous month.

The lowest level of unemployment was recorded in the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship (3 per cent) and the highest (8.6 per cent) in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship.

At the end of December 2024, there were - according to our estimates - 787,000 unemployed people registered in the labour offices. This is 12.6 thousand people (1.6 per cent) more than at the end of November 2024, but 1.2 thousand people (0.2 per cent) less than at the end of 2023.

Situation in flood areas

A total of 71,700 unemployed people were registered in the 43 counties where a state of disaster caused by flooding was declared. This is approximately 1,300 more people than at the end of November 2024. Importantly, the rate of increase in unemployment in these counties was 1.8 per cent, while in the other counties it was 1.6 per cent, meaning that the increase was similar.

In 30 of the 43 counties, the estimated unemployment rate at the end of December 2024 was higher than the month before, with an increase of between 0.1 and 0.5 percentage points.

Poland still at the top of the EU

Poland has long been among the top countries in the European Union with the lowest level of unemployment. Eurostat data shows that in November 2024 the unemployment rate in Poland was 3 per cent. - the same as in November 2023, but 0.1 points lower than in October 2024.

We thus ranked - ex aequo with Malta - as the second lowest unemployment rate in the EU, behind the Czech Republic (2.8 per cent).

In November 2024, the average in the EU countries was 5.9 per cent and in the euro area 6.3 per cent.