Poland far behind leaders in EU welfare ranking

 In the actual private consumption ranking for 2018, which can be described as a measure of true wealth, Poland took 21st place among European countries. Higher are some neighbors -  the Czech Republic or Lithuania.

Poland has reached 76 percent of the EU average. Meanwhile, Germany can boast a result of 120 percent respectively. The record-holder is Luxembourg with a result of 134 percent. Both countries belong to the elite group of ten that achieved a better result than the EU average, together with Austria, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Finland, Sweden, and France.

Poland in the ranking is not much separated from Romania, whose wealth level measured by actual individual consumption is 71 percent of the EU average. In addition to Romania, the result worse than Poland was achieved by, among others, Slovakia (73 percent), Hungary (64 percent) or Bulgaria – last on the list with a score of 56 percent.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at one of PiS electoral conventions, argued that, given the growth rate even this year, we can catch up with Italy in 8 years, with Spain in 10-12 years, 13-14 years to catch up with France, then Germany and the Netherlands will remain. Dr. Kazimierz Sedlak, an HR expert, looks at this issue differently. In his opinion, in recent years we certainly have a faster growth rate, but counting percentages do not say much about the increase in the value of wages.

“For example, let's assume that the average salary in Germany is about PLN 12,000 and increases every year by 2 percent. In Poland, it is PLN 4,500 and increases by 5 percent. If we calculate the nominal values, it turns out that the German average increased by PLN 240, and Polish only by PLN 225. So, despite the assumed growth dynamics 2.5 times higher, the nominal salary increases in Poland more slowly than in Germany,” Sedlak explained.

(Gazeta.pl)