As many as 4 out of 10 employers plan to hire new employees, while 1 out of 10 are considering job cuts. The largest number of offers will appear in construction and real estate, as well as trade and logistics – according to ManpowerGroup's report on recruitment forecasts published today.
In the period from April to June 2026, as much as 41 percent Polish employers plan to acquire new employees, 9 percent are taking into account layoffs, and nearly half of the companies (48%) intend to maintain the number of employees at the current level. Only 2 percent enterprises have no employment plans yet – these are the results of the “ManpowerGroup Employment Perspectives Barometer” report, measuring companies' recruitment plans.
Optimistic trends in the labor market
The study results also indicate that the seasonally adjusted net employment forecast is +31. According to Rafał Mroz, a labor market expert at Manpower, it means a clear advantage of companies planning to increase employment over those that intend to reduce it, which is a signal of the continued favorable economic situation on the labor market.
– This is the second quarter in a row with a significant increase in the employment forecast, this time by 9 percentage points. – Rafał Mróz says to Bankier.pl. – By far the largest number of companies declare that they will maintain employment, and the reductions announced by this increasingly smaller group of entrepreneurs may involve the layoffs of several dozen or even several hundred people. However, the increase in the number of entities planning to invest in smaller but specialized staff means striving for development, professionalization, ultimately increasing the productivity and innovation of Polish enterprises and keeping up with European competition.
Recruitment boom in construction, stagnation in the automotive industry
According to Manpower data, in the second quarter of this year nthe most job advertisements can be expected in construction and real estate (+45%), municipal services and raw materials (+41%), trade and logistics (+38%). Insurance specialists (+30%) and candidates for work in industrial production companies (+27%) will also have good job opportunities. The smallest, but still optimistic recruitment plans are those of companies from the information and communication sector (+18%) and professional, scientific and technical services (+18%). Whereas Entities from the automotive industry do not plan to employ new employees – the forecast here is 0%.
Companies from eastern Poland (+42%), northern (+34%) and southwest (+34%) plan to create the most new jobs. Northwest forecast +27%. Employers from the center (+24%) and the south (+19%) declare the least recruitment.
People are a critical resource?
According to Tomasz Walenczak, managing director of ManpowerGroup Polska, quarterly, the percentage of organizations that want to increase employment increased and at the same time the share of those talking about reductions decreased.
– Despite the difficult macroeconomic environment, enterprises more often see room for development than for cuts – says Tomasz Walenczak – Organizations not only want to maintain teams, but actively invest in competences that allow them to increase resilience, accelerate transformation and achieve goals. What we are currently seeing in the market reflects its maturity, and people are treated as a critical resource. While the current geopolitical uncertainty may make decisions more cautious, the overall direction is encouraging and companies have become accustomed to operating in a complex environment.
New jobs thanks to the development of companies and technologies
The most common reasons for new recruitment are:
- development of the organization and therefore creation of new jobs (64 percent),
- expansion of companies' activities (38 percent),
- technological development that generates demand for new skills (22 percent),
- filling vacancies after employees leave (21 percent),
- maintaining competitiveness (21 percent),
- conducting temporary projects (20 percent).
In turn, the reductions are caused by:
- process optimization and combining stations (29 percent),
- reorganization (25 percent),
- market changes that have reduced demand for certain features (25 percent),
- decreasing demand for services and products (24 percent),
- automation (24 percent).
Organizations that do not want to change the number of employees say that the current staff is sufficient for them to achieve their business goals (48 percent), and the market is stable and they do not expect any changes (28 percent).
However, the lack of decisions or uncertainty of companies regarding recruitment plans is mainly due to the shortage of talents – companies would like to employ new staff, but cannot find them (45 percent).
– We can expect new job offers in the coming quarter, but they will be limited the vast majority of proposals for candidates with specialist competences, no mass recruitment. Employers are looking for quality, that's why Analytical, technical, operational and technological competences are gaining in importance. This is also confirmed by the intentions of companies from the finance and insurance, professional services, health care and IT technology and services sectors – sums up the Manpower expert.
