Friday, 30 October 2026
Poland’s labour market recorded a modest improvement in October 2026, with an increase in available jobs and slightly stronger recruitment expectations among industrial companies. However, the latest figures from the Bureau for Investments and Economic Cycles (BIEC) indicate that employment conditions remain relatively stable, with insufficient evidence of a sustained recovery in hiring or a meaningful reduction in unemployment.
BIEC’s Labour Market Indicator, which measures developments that may influence future registered unemployment, declined by 0.7 points in October compared with September. This represented its largest monthly decrease since spring 2026. Although a lower reading generally indicates an improvement in labour market conditions, the research organisation cautioned that recent changes have not yet established a consistent trend.
Poland’s registered unemployment rate remained at 5.8% for the fourth consecutive month. The absence of movement in the headline figure reflects relatively limited changes in the number of people entering and leaving unemployment. While some underlying indicators have improved, the overall employment situation has shown little variation during recent months.
One of the more noticeable developments was an increase in vacancies reported to local employment offices. The number of available positions rose from approximately 35,000 in August to nearly 50,000 in September. This suggests that some employers have increased recruitment activity, although the figures cover vacancies reported to public employment offices rather than all available positions across the Polish economy.
Expectations among manufacturing companies also improved in October. The difference between the proportion of businesses anticipating workforce reductions and those planning to recruit narrowed from five percentage points in September to 2.4 percentage points. Nevertheless, companies expecting to reduce employment continued to outnumber those planning to increase their workforce, indicating that caution remains widespread among industrial employers.
Recruitment intentions vary considerably between manufacturing sectors. Companies producing transport equipment and electronics, together with businesses involved in petroleum and gas processing, reported relatively stronger expectations for employment. By contrast, clothing and furniture manufacturers were more likely to anticipate workforce reductions. These differences suggest that demand for labour remains uneven across industrial activities.
The number of people registering as unemployed increased in September, although BIEC found that the change largely reflected seasonal influences. After adjusting for these factors, the number of new registrations was broadly unchanged from August. Seasonal reductions in activity across tourism, agriculture and food processing contributed to the increase in people entering unemployment registers.
At the same time, slightly more unemployed people found work in September than in August. However, the number returning to employment remained below the level recorded a year earlier. BIEC noted that both entries into unemployment and departures into employment remain relatively low compared with historical patterns, suggesting limited movement within the labour market rather than a substantial change in employment conditions.
The report also identified a small increase in unemployment registrations associated with redundancies initiated by employers. This group has remained relatively limited, with approximately 40,000 to 43,000 people recorded in the category since the beginning of 2026. According to BIEC, these levels are among the lowest observed since its records began in 1993, despite the recent increase.
For Poland’s property and construction markets, the findings provide broader economic context rather than direct evidence of changing demand for commercial space. Employment trends can influence household spending, business investment and occupier requirements, particularly in office, retail and industrial property. However, the BIEC report does not provide separate employment figures for construction, real estate or commercial property services, making it difficult to draw specific conclusions for those sectors.
The latest results indicate that Poland’s labour market remains stable despite modest improvements in recruitment activity and business expectations. Whether the increase in vacancies develops into sustained employment growth will depend on hiring decisions over the coming months. For now, the combination of unchanged unemployment, cautious employers and limited movement between jobs suggests that any broader improvement is likely to emerge gradually rather than through an immediate increase in employment.
