Companies Are Competing for Workers. Offering Job Security and 8.5% Pay Rises

The Polish labour market is displaying increasingly clear differentiation between industries. The highest salary increases have been recorded in the automotive industry (9%), the machinery sector (8.6%) and logistics (8.5%), where demand for specialists continues to outstrip supply. Logistics also stands out for the largest employment growth, with 10,000 new positions added. The wholesale trade sector performed worst, with pay rises of just 5.7% and a reduction in employment of 27,000 persons.

Despite the general wage growth, companies are approaching recruitment with increasing caution. In certain sectors, redundancy plans are emerging, and at the beginning of 2026 both the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons are rising. At the same time, high demand for manual workers persists, met primarily by foreign workers in a temporary employment model. Source: strefabiznesu.pl