Polish unemployment down to 5.4% in March: stats office

Unemployment in Poland fell to 5.4 percent in March, from 5.5 percent in February, the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) reported on Friday.

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The figure came as a surprise to some amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysts polled by Poland’s PAP news agency had expected the jobless rate to increase to 5.6 percent rather than fall.

There were around 909,400 people without jobs at the end of March, down from 919,900 a month earlier, according to the state-run statistics agency.

Registered #unemployment rate in #Poland in March 2020 amounted to 5.4% and was lower than in February 2020 (5.5%).

More information in recent #StatisticsPoland's Statistical Bulletin 3/2020: https://t.co/J5syTgpflJ#RegisteredUnemployment #LabourMarket #labour #statistics pic.twitter.com/Ay9LxRAmPa

— Statistics Poland (@StatPoland) April 24, 2020

Meanwhile, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Development Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz was quoted as saying on Friday that the number of unemployed throughout the country could surge to 1.5 million by the end of the year, with the jobless rate soaring to “somewhere around 9 or 10 percent” due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Emilewicz said earlier this week that the government was readying a fresh package of measures to protect jobs and “keep the pulse of the economy going” amid the disruption.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP