Wages in Poland will grow but lag behind inflation, an expert from a leading employers association has said.

The Central Statistical Office announced on Monday that the average gross salary in the enterprise sector in July 2023 amounted to PLN 7,485.12 (EUR 1,674), an increase of 10.4 percent, year on year.

Inflation in Poland now stands 10.8 percent.

Mariusz Zielonka, an economist at Konfederacja Lewiatan, said that “our salary growth forecasts are not as optimistic as the market ones”.

“In other words, wages will grow, but slower than inflation; it’s already happening,” he added.

According to the economist, employers will also be less and less able to increase wages, but he added that the labour market remains strong.

Zielonka referred to a Grant Thornton report that found in July there was an increase in job offers posted on internet portals.

This may indicate, he continued, that despite the rather poor results of industry and retail sales, “we have a surplus of demand over labour supply”.

“However, analysing the data from the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), it seems that employers are mainly deciding to maintain employment levels, and when dismissing employees, they do not make any effort to recruit new workers,” said Zielonka.