According to preliminary data, there were 824.1 thousand unemployed people registered in job agencies at the end of March 2024. Compared to the previous month, the number of the unemployed fell by 21,200 or 2.5% (compared to a 2.1% decrease in March 2023), and compared to March last year, the number of the unemployed fell by 22,800. (i.e. 2.7%).

The unemployment rate recorded at the end of March 2024 ranged from 3.2% in the Wielkopolskie voivodeship to 8.7% in the Podkarpackie voivodeship.

In March 2024 (according to preliminary data), employers reported 85,800 job vacancies and occupational activation places to job agencies. The largest number of job offers reported to job agencies in March 2024 were addressed to production workers (5.8% of offers), domestic workers (4.9%), ‘other workers performing simple work not elsewhere classified’ (3.4%), ‘other workers performing simple industrial work’, auxiliary industrial workers, salespeople, office workers, manual packers, warehousemen and warehouse workers.

Among the unemployed registered at the end of February 2024, there were 13,700 unemployed Ukrainian citizens who accounted for 1.6% of the total number of the registered unemployed. Compared to the end of February 2022 (the beginning of the war in Ukraine), the number of unemployed Ukrainian citizens registered at job agencies increased almost nine times, and decreased by 0.1 thousand compared to the previous month.

The main known reasons of registration of the unemployed at job agencies in February 2024 include termination of employment due to contract expiry, termination of the contract by mutual agreement and contract termination by the employer or by the employee. Those registering were most frequently working in the following sectors prior to registration: wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles including motorbikes (14.9% of the inflow), processing industry (14.2%), and construction (7.7%). The main group of registrants were persons without a profession (15.9% of the inflow), salespeople (8.0%) and cooks (2.4%), followed by hairdressers, warehousemen, motor vehicle mechanics, locksmiths, auxiliary construction workers, economic workers, economy technicians and carpenters. The most frequent reasons for the de-registration of the unemployed from the job agencies’ records in the analysed month included taking up a job, starting to participate in activation activities (most often traineeships) and failing to appear in the labour office at the appointed time.

Unemployment according to Eurostat

Poland remains a country with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU. According to the data published on 3 April 2024, the unemployment rate calculated according to the definition adopted by Eurostat amounted to 2.9% in Poland compared to 6.0% in the European Union and 6.5% in the Euro zone. Poland had the second lowest unemployment rate in the EU (after Malta, 2.6%).