While at the end of 1991, the number of unemployed reached 2 million 156 thousand persons, at the end of 2017, no more than 1 million 82 thousand people were unemployed. The number of both unemployed women and men has decreased, although in the case of men the dynamics of change were more favorable.

Change in age structure
The numbers of unemployed persons have dropped by over a half in the 25 – 34 groups (decrease from 645 to 303 thousand) and 35 – 44 (decrease from 530 to 251 thousand). The number of unemployed young people (up to the age of 25) dropped almost six times - in the end of 1991 there were 756,000 of them, and 26 years later - 134,000. While until the end of the year 2000, young people accounted for over 30% of the unemployed, that number has dropped to just 12.4% by the end of 2017.

Unemployment vs education
Compared to the beginning of the transformation period, higher education is definitely much more common in young people, which is reflected in the structure of registered unemployed persons. The percentage of unemployed with higher education has increased from 3% - 64 thousand at the end of 1997 to 13.8% - 149 thousand at the end of 2017. In all other groups, there was a decrease in unemployment, although its dynamics were the highest for people with vocational education (decrease by 65%), lower secondary and lower education (by 53.9%) and post-secondary and secondary vocational education (decrease by 51.4%). These changes translated into a significant drop in the percentage of the unemployed with vocational education (from 37.4% to 26% at the end of 2017) and lower secondary and lower education (from 30% to 27.6%).

Polish people find employment faster

In the structure of the unemployed, the percentage has clearly decreased over the years of persons unemployed from 6 to 12 months (from 22% at the end of 1992 to 14.8% at the end of 2017), and over 12 months (down from 45.2% to 40.5%.) While at the end of 1992, unemployment lasting over 12 months concerned 1 million 134 thousand persons, at the end of 2017 the number of long-term unemployed persons amounted to just 438 thousand people.

Less people on the dole
While at the end of 1991, the right to unemployment benefit was held by 4/5 of all unemployed (1 million 703 thousand from 2 million 156 thousand), at the end of 2017 their share dropped to 14.8% (160,000 from 1082 thousand).

Less unemployed graduates
At the end of 2017, graduates accounted for 3.6% of the total number of unemployed (38 thousand out of 1 million 82 thousand of all unemployed). That’s almost 3 times less than at the end of 1991, when the percentage of graduates among the unemployed was 10.3% (222 thousand out of 2 million 156 thousand of all unemployed).

People with special situation on the labour market
The Act on Promotion of Employment and Labor Market Institutions of April 20, 2004 introduced categories of the unemployed with special situation on the labour market. Over the years, special situation groups have changed, but from the very beginning they included: unemployed persons up to 25 years of age, the long-term unemployed, unemployed persons over 50 and disabled persons. In all these groups, the unemployment level at the end of 2017 was clearly lower than at the end of 2005 (the first year for which data on persons with special situation on the labor market was collected). The most significant decline concerned people under the age of 25 (decrease by 77.3% to 134,000 people) and long-term unemployed persons as defined by the Act on employment promotion and labor market institutions (down by 67% from 1.8 million to 595 thousand). The number of unemployed aged over 50 has also decreased, by almost 30%, but the share of those unemployed in the structure has increased from 15.9% at the end of 2005 to 27.6% at the end of 2017, which is related to the process of population aging.

A record-low unemployment rate
At the end of 2017, the registered unemployment rate was 6.6%. That’s 4.8 points percent less than at the end of 1991, when the unemployment rate was 11.4%.