The latest data from the polish Central Statistical Office (CSO) for March 2026 paint a picture of the Polish economy in a phase of deep cost transformation. Average wages in the business sector rose to PLN 9652.19, a jump of 6.6% year-on-year. At the same time, the labour market recorded a 0.9% drop in employment, signalling that business leaders are increasingly focusing on optimising structures rather than extensive expansion of teams.
The March payroll reading slightly beat the market consensus of 6.3% growth. The monthly growth rate is particularly noteworthy, with an increase of 5.7% on February suggesting that the pressure on employers’ portfolios continues unabated. This is likely to be a product of quarterly bonus payments and the struggle to retain key professionals in an environment where competencies are becoming more valuable than the number of FTEs.
From a strategic perspective, the decline in the number of FTEs to 6.39 million while at the same time the dynamic growth in salaries is a classic signal of ‘doing more with fewer resources’. Companies, faced with high operating costs, are abandoning mass recruitment in favour of increasing salaries for those employees who realistically generate the highest added value. It is a strategy forced by the market: human capital is becoming the most expensive and demanding component of the balance sheet.
