The statistics office said the increase was caused by annual bonuses and awards, jubilee awards, bonus payments due to inflation, pay rises and retirement severance pays, with the biggest pay hikes in the mining sector and utilities.
As a result, the average salary in the Polish corporate sector rose by 13.6% year on year in February, exceeding 7,000 zlotys ($1,586) for the first time.
Still, in real terms, with inflation in Poland at 18.4% year on year last month, the average salary declined by 4.1%, said Monika Kurtek, chief economist at Bank Pocztowy.
"At the moment, it seems that companies are deciding to reduce the number of employees, but at the same time they still agree to wage increases. And this situation may persist for several more months," she added. Other analysts pointed to a large increase in the minimum wage since January - by nearly 16% to 3,490 zlotys per month - as one of the reasons for the wage hikes. The minimum wage is set to rise again from July to reach 3,600 zlotys.
"The beginning of 2023 shows that companies are also adapting to the slowdown through employment as the pace of wage rise is determined by a large jump in the minimum wage," ING analysts wrote. "We will see what happens in the following months, but the fall in employment in February is disturbingly high." In monthly terms, corporate employment fell by 0.1%, while it rose by 0.8% year on year.
Separate data showed industrial output fell in February,
surprising analysts who had expected a slight increase. It fell
for the first time since May 2020, pointing to a clear slowdown
in the Polish economy, Bank Pocztowy's Kurtek said.
($1 = 4.4131 zlotys)
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Pawel Florkiewicz,
Editing by Ed Osmond)
