POLISH LABOR MARKET: CHANGES DURING THE PERIOD COVID-19

Abstract

Outbreak of coronavirus pandemic caused the world economies to change greatly. The vast majority of enterprises in Poland were forced to restrict activity and almost all of them cut back on number of employees. In June 2020 most companies in Poland obtained “green lights” from the government for continuation their activity as before the pandemic outbreak. However the situation with restrictions still influences labor market in Poland. The issue of the study is currently of great interest, as quality analysis gives clear interpretation of the pandemic impact on employment, considering Ukrainian workers, and dealing with adverse effect of the coronavirus crisis.The study analyzes important and the most significant Polish labour market changes in 2020 caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. It is stated that pandemic had controversial impact on economically active population and the number of job offers for unemployed. The study explores employment rates in Poland and outlines the main differences between 2019 and 2020 data. The number of working places according to economy sectors and in general is assessed. It is defined that the Polish labour market recovers closely to pre crisis rates. Authors analyzed labour activity rates realized remotely in 2020. The influence of changes identified above on employment of Ukrainian workers in Poland is determined. Although Ukrainian and foreign analysts and researchers explored Polish labor market influenced by the coronavirus crisis in their works and papers, further deep investigations are needed. Thus, one of the novelty elements is thorough comparative outline of changes in the labour services area. An attempt is made in this paper to show the ways of solving problems of unemployment, limited number of job offers and economically inactive population.The primary concern of this research is to consider the Polish labour market current situation influenced by the coronavirus crisis, to analyze economic performance in 2020 compared to previous years, to highlight possible prospects, tasks or measures to improve labour market through reducing unemployment and increase in job offers.