GUS: unemployment reaches eight year high of 15.6%, worst yet to come

The Central Statistical Office (GUS) confirmed yesterday that unemployment rose to 15.6% at the end of January, up from 15% a month earlier. This translates into 2.84 million people out of work, up some 140,000 from December. This figure includes only people who have registered at local unemployment offices, but the actual number of unemployed is slightly higher. GUS head Janusz Witkowski said, "This is the highest unemployment figure since 1992, when we began conducting research on work activity." According to GUS the worst is yet to come, as this year people born in 1983, at the height of a demographic boom, are turning eighteen. The Office estimates that over the next ten years 1.3 million -1.5 million new jobs will need to be created just to keep unemployment from increasing. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.20) T.J.