By the end of February 2026, nearly every third company increased salaries, and 25 percent plans to do it by the end of this year – reported the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) in its Monthly Business Conditions Index survey. 3% want to reduce salaries. surveyed enterprises.
As PIE pointed out in the latest Economic Weekly, in the study carried out in 2024, the share of enterprises planning to increase wages was 11 percentage points. higher and amounted to 36 percent. He added that at the end of 2025, 34 percent enterprises forecast an increase in wages in the first quarter of this year.
The Institute noted that among companies that have already increased the remuneration of their employees, 25 percent plans further increases by the end of 2026. 25% also have the same plans. companies that did not increase salaries.
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PIE
In the first months of 2026, 43 percent increased their salaries. service companies and 33 percent construction. Enterprises related to the TSL industry did it the least often – 23 percent made such a decision. of them. When it comes to plans to increase wages this year, construction companies are the most likely to declare it (30%), and service companies are the least likely to declare it – 18%. Among companies that have already increased salaries, entrepreneurs from the TSL (48%) and construction (36%) industries were more likely to plan further increases. In turn, among enterprises that this year have not increased wages, mainly manufacturing (34%) and construction (27%) businesses plan to raise wages.
PIE also pointed out that in services, less than every fifth company plans to increase wages by the end of 2026, regardless of whether it increased wages at the beginning of the year.
Wages in Poland are slowing down, but this is a good sign
According to data from the Central Statistical Office, in February 2026, there was an annual increase in the average gross salary in the enterprise sector by 6.1%, i.e. at the same rate as in January and slightly below forecasts. The average salary was PLN 9,212.13. Only in mining was the average salary lower than a year ago – by almost 3%.
See also: Unemployment in Poland. European data sheds new light on data
The pace of wage growth in the economy is one of the key data for the Monetary Policy Council in the context of decisions on the level of interest rates: too high a pace drives inflation. Over the last two years, the pace of wage growth in Poland has been gradually slowing down. At the end of 2024, we said goodbye to double-digit wage growth. At the beginning of 2024, the average salary dynamics reached 12 percent, and in 2022 it was as much as 15-16 percent.
