IDENTIFICATION OF CHANGES CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE POLISH LABOUR MARKET

Abstract

The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may have catalysed significant changes in the Polish economy and labour market. During the previous decade, the prosperity of the Polish labour market had clearly improved, as illustrated by data on falling unemployment rates, rising employment and wages. The author's main objective is to identify the key changes caused by the pandemic crisis. To this end, a main hypothesis and three specific hypotheses were adopted, which are based on regularities derived from previous economic crises. The hypotheses were verified by relying on a detailed analysis of international and national databases. Based on the analysis, it has been assessed that a deviation from the labour market trends of the 2010-2019 decade as a result of the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a profound change, but its nature should be assessed as short-term and visible mainly in the second quarter of 2020. During the post-collapse recovery period, which can be dated from Q2 2021 onwards, the trends in the Polish labour market increasingly approximated the pre-pandemic trends, both in terms of supply and demand.