Poland's labor force participation rate rises sharply

The level of professional activity of persons in their prime, retirement, and pre-retirement age has clearly increased in Poland, according to analysts of the Polish Economic Institute. They stressed that this is mainly due to the fact that the so far professionally inactive have started to work.

According to preliminary data from the Central Statistical Office, in the first quarter of 2022, among people of working age, the percentage of economically active people was 80 percent. "This means that among women aged 18-59 and men aged 18-64, 80 percent were working or actively seeking work," PIE experts explained. 

Compared to a year ago, this represents an increase of 1.3 percent. They pointed out that the number of employed people amounted to 15.95 million – almost 100,000 more than a year ago.

The latest issue of PIE's Economic Weekly noted that the pandemic increased labor force participation among the elderly and decreased among the youngest. 

"In this respect, Poland stands out compared to Europe," they stated. 

PIE recalled that as of 2019, the decline in the labor force participation rate of men aged 20-24 years was minus 5.1 percentage points, and women of this age were minus 7.5 percentage points.

According to experts, although the trend of deactivation of young people during the pandemic period was evident in most European Union countries, Poland was at the forefront in terms of the size of the decline: on average, the economic activity of people aged 20-24 fell by only 0.9 percentage points.

(PAP)