GUS: labor market August 2026

Here is a summary of the Statistics Poland (GUS) data on the labor market situation in August 2026.

1. Average employment in the enterprise sector

• Result: 6,367.8 thousand people.

• Change: Decrease of 0.8% y/y (and a decrease of 1.0% y/y in the period January–August 2026).

• Sectors with decreases:

• The largest decrease was recorded in mining and quarrying (-9.1% y/y).

• Decreases also occurred, among others, in electricity and energy supply (-2.0% y/y) and in manufacturing (including manufacture of furniture: -5.6%, manufacture of vehicles: -3.7%).

• Sectors with increases:

• Water supply, sewerage and waste management (+3.7% y/y),

• Accommodation and catering (+2.0% y/y),

• Manufacture of machinery and equipment (+1.8% y/y).

2. Registered unemployment

• Number of unemployed: 909.5 thousand people (increase of 0.3% m/m and increase of 6.2% y/y).

• Unemployment rate: 5.8% (unchanged compared to July 2026; increase of 0.3 pp y/y).

• Regional diversity:

• Lowest rate: Wielkopolskie (3.8%) and Mazowieckie (4.5%) voivodships.

• Highest rate: Warmińsko-Mazurskie (9.2%) and Podkarpackie (9.1%) voivodships.

• Largest increase y/y: Lubuskie voivodship (+0.7 pp).

  

3. Structure of the unemployed

• Women: Accounted for 49.8% of the total unemployed (decrease of 1.1 pp y/y).

• Without benefit rights: 87.3% of the unemployed (+2.6 pp y/y).

• Long-term unemployed: 50.3% of the total (increase from 46.5% a year earlier).

• Dismissed due to company reasons: 4.5% of the total (unchanged y/y).

4. Labor demand and job offers

• Newly registered job offers: 35.3 thousand in August (decrease of 10.1% y/y).

• Number of unemployed per 1 job offer: 20.5 at the end of August 2026 (compared to 21.4 a year earlier).

• Long-term offers: 44.6% of job offers remained unfilled for more than 30 days.

5. Group layoffs

• Plans for August: 36 establishments reported their intention to lay off 5.6 thousand employees (a significant increase in the private sector — from 1.0 thousand a year earlier to 5.4 thousand in August 2026).

• Total declarations: At the end of August, 170 establishments declared their intention to lay off 24.7 thousand employees.

6. Wages in the enterprise sector

• Average gross wage: PLN 9,259.54 (in the period January–August 2026, it averaged PLN 9,358.05).

• Nominal growth: Increase of 5.6% y/y (slowdown compared to 6.8% in July this year and 7.1% in August 2025).

• Real growth (purchasing power): Increase of 2.0% y/y (compared to +3.6% in July this year and +4.2% a year earlier) — the decline in real growth resulted from the re-acceleration of inflation.

• Industries with the strongest increases / decreases:

• Nominal increases were recorded in most sections.

• The only section with a year-on-year decrease in the average gross wage was mining and quarrying (-1.7% y/y).