There is no wave of layoffs in Polish companies? “It's a seasonal trend”
More and more companies in Poland are announcing collective layoffs. However, according to the expert, there is nothing to fear, because the beginning of the year is usually associated with the announcement of restructuring. “It's a seasonal trend,” says Andrzej Kubisiak, deputy director of the Polish Economic Institute, in an interview for Wprost.
– This is a seasonal trend. Usually, the first quarter is the moment when companies announce changes, restructuring, recovery plans, and this often involves looking for staff savings. We must be aware that companies have recently experienced certain shocks, e.g. related to energy prices or rising labor costs. As we enter the new year, most of them are planning some corrective actions, says Andrzej Kubisiak, adding that the numbers do not show that anything disturbing is happening on the Polish labor market.
Collective layoffs
The expert points out that simply reporting group layoffs in a company does not necessarily mean that the entire group will lose their job.
– Group layoffs are a procedure that applies to large and medium-sized companies planning to reduce the employment of a large group of people. But they plan it, it does not mean they will implement it, it is also launched when companies want to transfer a certain group of employees to another company within the capital group. Saying that there is a shock in the labor market is a bit of an abuse, says Kubisiak.
According to the latest Eurostat data, the unemployment rate in Poland was 2.9% in February, which makes us the second largest EU country (only the Czechs are ahead of us). The EU average is 5.9%.
The government responds
In response to the growing number of group layoffs, the government is taking steps to support counties affected by employment reductions. It is planned to allocate PLN 50 million for responding to crisis situations. The Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, announced that Poland will allocate additional funds in the amount of PLN 50 million for preventive actions in response to planned group layoffs, despite the current stable situation on the labor market.
These funds can be used if necessary, but I would like to emphasize that we do not see such a need at the moment,” said the minister.
The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy presented information on current initiatives during the plenary meeting of the Social Dialogue Council. Dziemianowicz-Bąk noted that Poland has long been a country with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the European Union, and the situation on the labor market is the best in 30 years. Despite reports of planned group layoffs in Polish companies, the minister emphasized that each such event deserves attention from the Ministry of Labor. In 2023, employers announced their intention to provide group layoffs for 30,000 people. employees, but only 17,000 were actually dismissed. people.
