Unemployment in Poland. It hasn’t been this bad for 5 years

On Tuesday, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) presented the final data on unemployment in January. The unemployment rate in the first month of 2026 was 6 percent, i.e. 0.3 percentage point. more than in December 2025.

Unemployment in Poland. There has been no such data since 2021

The preliminary estimates presented at the beginning of February by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy were thus confirmed, which means that the worst result in almost five years was recorded (the 6% barrier was last exceeded in May 2021).

The Central Statistical Office also announced that at the beginning of this year there were 934.1 thousand registered in labor offices. unemployed, compared to 887.9 thousand a month earlier. These data are slightly more optimistic than the initial estimates of the Ministry of Labor. Let us recall that according to these data, 934.8 thousand were registered in labor offices. people.

The number of newly registered unemployed persons amounted to 118.5 thousand. compared to 93.6 thousand in December.

The most difficult situation occurs in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, where the unemployment rate is close to 10%. On the other side is Greater Poland with a reading of 3.8%.

A week ago, Prime Minister Donald Tusk referred to the latest data on unemployment in Poland during the “Year of acceleration” conference organized at the headquarters of the Stock Exchange. – I don’t see any serious reason to be concerned about the level of Polish unemployment compared to other economies – said the head of government.

Poland is the runner-up

The Prime Minister reminded that Poland is second in terms of the lowest unemployment in the European Union. This is confirmed by the latest Eurostat data. At the beginning of February, the EU statistical office reported that unemployment in our country amounted to 3.2 percent in December. with the EU average of 5.9%. The situation is better only in the Czech Republic, where the unemployment rate in the last month of 2025 was 3.1%.

Let us recall that the differences between the Central Statistical Office and Eurostat data result from methodology. Eurostat understands unemployment as people who are actively looking for a job but have problems finding it. Therefore, it excludes a large group of people who are registered with the office because they care about the unemployed status, which allows, among others, free health care.