Poles have to work over week for Christmas expenses

The latest Deloitte Christmas report shows that Poles will spend around PLN 1,300 on Christmas this year. This means that a person earning the national average has to work eight days to cover all expenses for this year's Christmas. For people receiving the minimum wage, it will take longer, just over two weeks, according to the analysis of the Personnel Service. The employees of the information and communication as well as financial and insurance industries will most quickly earn their Christmas shopping. In their case, only four days are enough.

Deloitte data shows that this year we will spend an average of PLN 1,318 on gifts, food, travel, and meetings with loved ones during the Christmas period. This is an amount lower by 29 percent than last year when we spent as much as PLN 1,856 for this purpose. However, these are still significant costs that will have a real impact on the household budget.

According to GUS data, in the third quarter of this year, the average salary in Poland amounted to PLN 5,169 gross (PLN 3,733 net). Assuming that we work 22 days a month on average, we earn 170 zlotys "on hand" for the average national salary. This means that we need 8 working days to raise funds for Christmas. People earning the lowest national wage, PLN 1,921 net, will have to spend more than half a month at work. Their daily rate at 22 working days a month is just PLN 87. 

“Last year, an employee receiving the minimum wage had to work as many as 25 working days in order to earn money for Christmas expenses. This is 10 days more than estimated this year. Two factors mainly contributed to the shortening of this period. First, increasing the minimum wage from PLN 2,250 gross to PLN 2,600 gross. Secondly, this year we will spend much less on Christmas,” Krzysztof Inglot, president of Personnel Service, labor market expert, said.

(WBJ)