Portrait of the Regions - POLAND - LUBUSKIE VOIVODSHIP - Employment

Portrait of the Regions - POLAND - LUBUSKIE VOIVODSHIP - Employment

LUBUSKIE VOIVODSHIP - Employment

Lubuskie Voivodship is one of the regions characterised by a difficult situation on the labour market. Employment in the economy is falling and unemployment is growing.

In 2001, 317 thousand people were employed in Lubuskie Voivodship, accounting for 2.2% of total employment in the country. In terms of employment per 1 000 residents (309), Lubuskie Voivodship had one of the lowest rankings in the country. The structure of employment according to kinds of activity was characterised by a significantly lower share than the national average in agriculture, hunting and forestry; fishing (18.3%), a higher share than the national average in industry and construction (28.8%) as well as in services (52.9%).

According to the Labour Force Survey, recent years have been characterised by a decline in the economically active population aged 15 and more. Both the activity rate (55.2%) and the employment rate (41.7%) were lower than the national averages (56.3% and 46.1%, respectively).

Approximately 115 thousand people were unemployed in the voivodship, corresponding to 3.6% of all unemployed people in the country. The unemployment rate was higher than the national average and systematically grew from 16.9% in 1995 to 24.2% in 2001. A particularly high unemployment rate (46.6%) was noted in the group of young people (aged 15-24), and was 5.6 pt higher than the national average. The unemployment rate in rural areas was also very high - 26.0% (9.6 pt higher than the national average). The share of long-term unemployment in total unemployment amounted to 33.9% (43.1% in the country).

Average monthly gross wages and salaries in the voivodship were 12.5% lower than the average wages and salaries in the country, and particularly lower in market services (18.3%).

The largest share of average monthly available income of households per capita originated from hired work (46%), followed by social security benefits (34%) and self-employment (11%). Worth noting is the growth in the significance of incomes from social insurance and welfare, due to the ageing of the population and the high unemployment rate.

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Text finalised in December 2003.