Salaries in Poland will catch up with the EU average

The gap, however, is going to shrink, as the opening of EU labor markets will force Polish employers to pay workers more in order to keep them in the country. "The opening of EU labor markets will result in the increase of average salaries in Poland," says the managing director of HRK Partners, Piotr Sierocinski. "If specialists are missing in Poland, salaries will grow automatically to attract them back."The HRK analysts forecast that by 2010 salaries in Poland will be growing by between 4.5 and six percent a year. How fast Poland will catch up with the EU average will depend on Poland's GDP growth and the country's productivity. The Czech Republic, for example, is recording faster salary growth, but the country has also had higher GDP growth and inflation. (WBJ)