Average monthly gross wages in Poland’s enterprise sector reached PLN 9,266.48 (approximately $2,360 or €2,110) in September 2026, an increase of 5.9% from a year earlier, even as employment continued to decline.
New figures published by Statistics Poland (GUS) on 20 October show that average employment at qualifying businesses fell by 0.8% year-on-year, reaching approximately 6.36 million full-time-equivalent positions.
The latest data highlight a growing contrast in Poland’s labour market: businesses are paying higher average wages, but the number of full-time-equivalent positions recorded in the enterprise sector is continuing to shrink.
Although nominal wage growth accelerated slightly from August, it remained below economists’ expectations.
Higher inflation also eroded much of the increase in earnings. With consumer prices rising by 4.1% annually in September, real average wage growth slowed to approximately 1.7%, its weakest rate in more than three years.
The figures are significant for employers assessing labour costs, workers considering their purchasing power and international businesses evaluating Poland’s employment market.
However, the headline salary is an average before tax and social-security deductions, not the amount most Polish employees receive in their bank accounts.
Average gross monthly pay reaches PLN 9,266
According to the official Statistics Poland release covering September employment and wages, average gross monthly pay increased by 5.9% compared with September 2025.
The result was slightly below the 6.1% annual increase expected by economists surveyed by PAP Biznes.
Nevertheless, the annual rate of wage growth was higher than in August, when average earnings increased by 5.6%.
In monthly terms, the September increase was modest.
Average gross pay rose from PLN 9,259.54 in August to PLN 9,266.48 in September, an increase of PLN 6.94.
That represents nominal growth of approximately 0.1%.
| Wage indicator | September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Average monthly gross wage | PLN 9,266.48 |
| Annual nominal wage growth | +5.9% |
| Monthly nominal wage growth | +0.1% |
| August average gross wage | PLN 9,259.54 |
| Market forecast for annual growth | +6.1% |
| September consumer inflation | +4.1% |
| Approximate annual real wage growth | +1.7% |
The figures refer to the enterprise sector, a statistical category covering specified business activities at entities generally employing at least ten people.
They are not a comprehensive measure of earnings across every workplace in Poland.
The published average also includes more than basic contractual salaries.
Depending on the circumstances, payments such as bonuses, awards, overtime remuneration and certain additional employment-related payments can influence the monthly figure.
Consequently, movements in the average can reflect changes in the composition and timing of payments as well as ordinary salary increases.
Inflation reduces real wage growth to 1.7%
The distinction between nominal and real wage growth is particularly important in the latest figures.
Nominal wage growth measures how much average pay has increased in monetary terms.
Real wage growth adjusts for inflation, providing an indication of how much additional purchasing power those earnings represent.
In September, average enterprise-sector wages increased by 5.9% compared with a year earlier.
However, Statistics Poland’s separate consumer-price report showed that prices rose by 4.1% over the same period.
Adjusting the nominal wage increase for inflation produces a real annual increase of approximately 1.7%.
That means average earnings continued to gain purchasing power, but substantially less than the headline 5.9% increase might suggest.
The slowdown was particularly noticeable compared with August, when real annual wage growth was approximately 2.1%.
Economists at PKO Bank Polski described September’s real wage growth as the weakest since August 2023.
Their analysis indicates that although nominal wage growth accelerated slightly between August and September, higher inflation absorbed more of that increase.
For households, this distinction matters because higher wages do not necessarily translate into equivalent improvements in living standards.
Food, housing, utilities, transport and other consumer costs can absorb part of any increase in earnings.
Individual circumstances will differ considerably depending on spending patterns, family circumstances and whether a worker actually received a pay rise.
The GUS figure measures the purchasing power of average earnings across the surveyed sector. It does not establish that every employee’s real income increased by 1.7%.
Enterprise-sector employment falls to 6.36 million positions
Alongside rising wages, the latest statistics show a continued decline in measured employment.
Average employment in the enterprise sector reached 6,360,400 full-time-equivalent positions in September.
That was 0.8% lower than a year earlier and 0.1% below the August level.
The previous month’s figure was approximately 6,367,800 positions, meaning the measured total declined by around 7,400 full-time equivalents between August and September.
| Employment indicator | September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Average employment | 6.36 million FTE |
| Annual employment change | -0.8% |
| Monthly employment change | -0.1% |
| August employment | 6.37 million FTE |
| Market forecast, annual change | -0.8% |
The annual decline matched the expectations of economists surveyed by PAP Biznes.
September also continued the negative employment trend seen in August, when enterprise-sector employment had fallen by 0.8% year-on-year.
This suggests that the measured workforce in the surveyed businesses remains under pressure despite continued nominal wage increases.
However, the statistics do not establish that an equivalent number of employees were made redundant.
GUS measures average employment in full-time equivalents, taking account of the working-time arrangements of part-time employees.
The measure can also be influenced by hiring, departures, changes in working hours and changes in the composition of reporting businesses.
A reduction in full-time-equivalent employment is therefore not identical to the number of individual workers losing their jobs.
Nor does the enterprise-sector figure establish the overall number of employed people in Poland.
Why employment can fall while wages rise
Rising average wages and declining measured employment may appear contradictory, but the two developments can occur simultaneously.
Employers may continue increasing pay to retain experienced workers or compensate staff for higher living costs while limiting recruitment or reducing other labour expenses.
The composition of the workforce can also influence the average.
For example, if relatively lower-paid positions disappear while higher-paid specialist roles remain, the measured average wage may rise even without an equivalent increase in every remaining employee’s salary.
Similarly, bonuses and other irregular payments can affect the monthly average.
These are possible explanations for the statistical pattern, rather than causes conclusively established by the September GUS release.
The latest figures do not identify how much of the decline in employment resulted from redundancies, recruitment freezes, voluntary departures or changes in working hours.
Nor do they demonstrate that all industries are experiencing the same conditions.
Sector-specific differences remain important.
In their September assessment, economists at PKO Bank Polski noted that wage developments differed between parts of the economy.
Mining, manufacturing, services, retail and hospitality did not all follow the same pattern.
For employers, the national enterprise-sector average therefore provides a benchmark, but recruitment decisions and wage costs will depend heavily on industry, location, occupation and the availability of suitably qualified staff.
PLN 9,266 is not what the typical Polish worker earns
The average gross monthly salary reported by GUS is frequently described in Polish media as the national average wage.
However, the enterprise-sector indicator is narrower than its informal name suggests.
It primarily covers specified business activities at enterprises employing at least ten people.
It excludes microbusinesses and does not comprehensively represent employment in public administration and other parts of the public sector.
In addition, an arithmetic average can be influenced by relatively high earnings among managers, executives and specialist employees.
The figure therefore should not be interpreted as the salary received by the typical worker.
A different measure is the median wage, which divides a population into two equal groups.
Half of employees earn no more than the median, while the other half earn no less.
According to GUS’s latest wage-distribution statistics, published on 7 October, the median gross monthly salary across the wider national economy was PLN 7,695 in April 2026.
That publication also recorded substantial differences in median pay according to sex and employer size.
The April median and September enterprise-sector average are not directly comparable because they cover different periods and statistical populations.
Nevertheless, the distinction helps explain why an average of more than PLN 9,000 does not mean that most Polish workers receive a gross monthly salary at that level.
There is also a separate distinction between gross and net earnings.
Gross pay represents remuneration before deductions for personal income tax and employee social-security contributions.
The amount received by an employee depends on the applicable tax arrangements, contribution requirements and individual circumstances.
Poland 24 Business has previously explained how Polish ZUS social-security contributions are divided between employers and employees.
A gross salary of PLN 9,266 should therefore not be presented as PLN 9,266 of disposable monthly income.
What the figures mean for businesses and investors
For businesses operating in Poland, the latest figures suggest that labour costs continue increasing in nominal terms even as the measured enterprise-sector workforce contracts.
This combination matters for employers planning recruitment, production capacity and operating budgets.
Companies may face pressure to maintain competitive salaries for experienced staff while remaining cautious about expanding headcounts.
For international businesses considering investment in Poland, the figures also demonstrate why labour-market conditions need to be assessed beyond the headline average wage.
Actual employment costs depend on salary levels within particular occupations, employer social contributions, working-time arrangements and other employment obligations.
Regional wage differences can also be substantial.
Warsaw and other major urban centres generally have different employment markets from smaller cities and less industrialised regions.
The latest national enterprise-sector data cannot establish what an employer would need to pay for a particular position in a particular location.
From a wider economic perspective, the combination of slower real wage growth and declining enterprise-sector employment may also influence household spending.
Where earnings are rising only modestly after inflation, consumers may have less scope to increase discretionary expenditure.
Nevertheless, the September figures alone do not prove that household consumption will decline.
Spending also depends on employment outside the enterprise-sector survey, household savings, borrowing costs, government transfers and consumer confidence.
Employment figures are not the unemployment rate
The decline in enterprise-sector employment should also be distinguished from Poland’s official unemployment measures.
Enterprise-sector employment statistics describe average full-time-equivalent employment across a particular group of businesses.
Registered unemployment measures people recorded as unemployed by public employment offices under applicable administrative rules.
A separate labour-force survey measures employment and unemployment using internationally comparable definitions.
These indicators examine different populations and can therefore move in different directions.
As Poland 24 Business reported in its earlier coverage of September registered unemployment, the preliminary registered unemployment rate stood at 5.8%.
That figure should not be directly compared with the 0.8% decline in enterprise-sector employment.
A reduction in positions at surveyed businesses does not automatically produce an equivalent rise in the number of registered unemployed people.
Workers may move to other employers, become self-employed, leave the labour force or find employment outside the enterprises covered by the monthly survey.
Furthermore, part of the decline in full-time-equivalent employment may reflect changes in working hours rather than a change in the number of individual employees.
Understanding Poland’s labour market therefore requires examining several complementary statistical measures.
Further labour-market data will clarify the trend
The September data reinforce evidence that nominal wage increases are continuing while employment in the enterprise sector remains subdued.
Average gross pay increased by 5.9% annually, but inflation reduced the improvement in purchasing power to approximately 1.7%.
At the same time, measured employment declined by 0.8% compared with September 2025.
For workers, the practical significance depends on whether individual pay rises are sufficient to offset living costs.
For employers, the figures indicate a market in which average remuneration is still increasing despite reduced measured employment.
The next GUS monthly release covering October will provide further evidence of whether wage growth is stabilising and whether the decline in full-time-equivalent employment continues.
The broader question is whether Polish businesses can maintain improving real wages while creating or retaining more employment.
For now, September’s figures show that higher average salaries are not translating into an expansion of the workforce measured by Poland’s enterprise-sector statistics.
