Every year, the winter months are the time when seasonal work ends and the number of job offers decreases. However, we constantly monitor the situation, and the latest unemployment data confirm that the situation in the Polish labour market is stable. The estimated registered unemployment rate at the level of 5.2% in December is a good result. Never in history has the unemployment rate in December been lower than 5.2%. It was equally low in this period only once: in 2019 – points out the Minister of Family and Social Policy Marlena Maląg.

In December 2022 (according to the preliminary data), employers reported 67.1 thousand vacancies and places of professional activation to labour offices.

According to the preliminary data, at the end of 2022, 813.2 thousand unemployed persons were registered with labour offices. This means that there were 82.0 thousand unemployed persons (i.e. 9.2%) fewer than at the end of 2021.

“When we compare the unemployment rate at the end of 2022 to the situation at the end of February 2020, i.e. before the COVID-19 epidemic, we can see that the number of registered unemployed persons decreased by 106.7 thousand (by 11.6%), and the registered unemployment rate was by 0.3 pp. lower than at the end of February 2020. This shows the effectiveness of the government’s activities to protect jobs both during the pandemic and in connection with the current geopolitical situation in the world” – stresses the Minister of Family and Social Policy Marlena Maląg.

The registered unemployment rate was the lowest in the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship, where it amounted to 2.9%. The highest unemployment rate was recorded in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship – 8.9%.

Unemployment according to Eurostat

Poland is a country with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU. According to the data published on 1 December 2022, the harmonised unemployment rate, calculated according to the definition adopted by Eurostat, amounted to 3% in October 2022 in Poland when compared to 6% in the European Union and 6.5% in the Euro zone. Thus, Poland, together with Germany, was ranked second, after the Czech Republic (2.1%), in terms of the lowest unemployment rate in the EU.