Want the best wages around? Then go to Katowice

Warsaw has been overtaken as the city with the highest average salary in Poland for the first time since 1989, latest data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) show.

In 2007, Katowice came top with an average salary of zł.3,890. Gdańsk came second at zł.3,815, and Warsaw slipped to third with zł.3,805.

Katowice is the capital of Poland's coal mining belt, which pays relatively high salaries, especially after recent wage increases prompted by strikes.

As for Gdańsk, it has a low unemployment rate, a vibrant small business culture and has succeeded in attracting well-paid high-tech jobs.

However, Prof Witold Orłowski of PricewaterhouseCoopers, notes that if only central Warsaw is taken into account - which would be justified in terms of population numbers comparability - the capital would still come top. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4) R.M.