Fewer on the dole

In September, both the number of people registered as jobless and the unemployment rate in Poland fell considerably in comparison to last month and the same period last year, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) reported. The number of newly registered unemployed was higher than in 2004, however, the number of people crossed off the registers of employment agencies also increased.

According to GUS' study on unregistered labor, the number of people working in the black market also decreased over the last several years from 1.4 million in 1998 to 1.3 million last year, which equals 9.6 percent of the labor force.

Economic indices are equally on the rise and according to research by the Gdańsk Institute of Market Economics (IBnGR), an independent think-tank, the trend is likely to last. The 2005 GDP growth rate is expected to reach 3.3 percent, and should hit its peak value in Q4 of this year at 4.7 percent. In 2007, the figure is expected to equal as much as 5 percent.

IBnGR also said that the level of consumption will be boosted by growing real remunerations and the improving labor market situation. In spite of skyrocketing fuel prices, there are no signs of an accelerated inflation processes in Poland.