Unemployment in Poland is the highest in years. The Central Statistical Office published calculations for February 2026
Nearly 21,000 new jobs were added to the labor office registers in February. unemployed – according to the latest data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) published on Tuesday. The unemployment rate in the voivodeships ranged from approximately 4%. up to approx. 10 percent
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Unemployment in Poland is rising
The unemployment rate in Poland in February was 6.1%. compared to 6 percent recorded in January. Unemployment has not been this high for years.
How do the new Central Statistical Office data compare to economists' forecasts? The expectations after the preliminary estimate of the Ministry of Labor from two weeks ago were that unemployment would increase to 6.1%. So no surprise.
At the end of February 2026, there were 954.9 thousand registered in labor offices. unemployed, i.e. by 20.8 thousand, or about 2.2 percent more than in January and by 12.7 percent more than in February last year.
Compared to the end of 2025, i.e. in two months, there were as many as 67,000 more in the registers of labor offices. unemployed.
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Central Statistical Office, own calculations
Unemployment in voivodeships. Big differences
Unemployment at just over 6%. this is a large average on a national scale. In the voivodeships, the unemployment rate ranged from 3.9%. in the Greater Poland Voivodeship to 10.1 percent in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.
Compared to the previous month, the unemployment rate increased in most voivodeships, including the highest in the Świętokrzyskie and Warmian-Masurian voivodeships (0.2 percentage points each). In the Lower Silesian, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Lublin, Lubuskie, Łódź, Opole, Pomeranian, Silesian, Greater Poland and West Pomeranian voivodeships, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point each, while in the remaining voivodeships it did not change.
Over the year, the unemployment rate increased in all voivodeships, including the highest in the Lubuskie Voivodeship – by 1.2 percentage points. In the Świętokrzyskie and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeships the unemployment rate increased by 0.9 percentage points each, in the Lubelskie, Łódź, Silesian and West Pomeranian Voivodeships by 0.8 percentage points, in the Lower Silesian and Pomeranian Voivodeships by 0.7 percentage points, in the Greater Poland Voivodeship by 0.6 percentage points, and in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Małopolskie Voivodeships, Opole and Podkarpackie 0.5 percentage points each. In Podlaskie Voivodeship, unemployment was 0.4 percentage point higher. higher than a year ago, while in the Masovian Voivodeship by 0.3 percentage points.
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