Szczecin Labour Market: Unemployment Falls to 4.2%

Employment and the Structure of the Enterprise Sector

Average employment in Szczecin’s enterprise sector amounted to 57.2 thousand people in full-time equivalent terms in May 2026 and remained unchanged from April 2026. Compared with May 2025, it was higher by 0.8 thousand people, or 1.4%.

Month on month, employment increased in accommodation and food service activities (by 0.5%), professional, scientific and technical activities (by 0.3%), transportation and storage (by 0.3%), information and communication, as well as manufacturing (by 0.1% each). Declines were recorded in real estate activities (by 0.4%), administrative and support service activities, construction and trade (by 0.3% each), as well as arts, entertainment and recreation (by 0.2%).

Year on year, the strongest growth in employment was recorded in professional, scientific and technical activities (up 12.3%) and administrative and support service activities (up 5.2%). Declines mainly affected trade (down 4.6%) and accommodation and food service activities (down 3.5%).

Wages

Average monthly gross pay in the enterprise sector amounted to PLN 9,595.30 in May 2026 — 1.3% lower than in April 2026, but 7.3% higher than in May 2025. The monthly decline was mainly driven by lower payments in information and communication (down 10.6%) and in professional, scientific and technical activities (down 7.9%).

Year on year, the strongest wage growth was recorded in construction (up 16.6%) and professional, scientific and technical activities (up 11.9%). Accommodation and food service activities was the only sector to record an annual decline, of 10.0%. The highest wages relative to the enterprise-sector average were reported in information and communication, at 31.7% above the average, while the lowest were in accommodation and food service activities, at 25.9% below the average.

Registered Unemployment

At the end of May 2026, the number of registered unemployed people in Szczecin stood at 7,426 — 201 people, or 2.6%, fewer than at the end of April 2026, but 1,018 people, or 15.9%, more than a year earlier. Women accounted for 3,457 people, or 46.6% of all unemployed people, unchanged from the previous month and compared with 46.8% a year earlier.

The registered unemployment rate stood at 4.2%, slightly below April 2026’s 4.3%, but above the 3.6% recorded a year earlier. By comparison, the rate was 7.8% in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship and 5.9% nationwide.

In May 2026, labour offices reported 264 job vacancies, representing 17.4% of all vacancies in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. In Szczecin, 24 registered unemployed people were recorded per job offer, compared with 32 a month earlier and 22 a year earlier — slightly more than the regional average of 21 people.

Among newly registered unemployed people, 270 individuals, or 28.7%, registered for the first time, while the share of people dismissed for reasons attributable to their workplace amounted to 2.7%, compared with 2.4% a month earlier. A total of 1,141 people were removed from the register, including 548 who found employment and 399 who lost their unemployed status due to no contact with the labour office for at least 90 days. A total of 6,613 people, or 89.1% of all registered unemployed people, were not entitled to unemployment benefits, compared with 88.4% a year earlier.

Szczecin Compared with Other Major Cities

Among the cities compared, Szczecin ranks in the middle range in terms of unemployment, with a rate higher than in Warsaw, Poznań or Kraków but lower than in Łódź. The number of unemployed people per job offer is close to the average for major cities, while average gross pay remains clearly lower than in Warsaw or Kraków.

Data source: Statistics Poland (GUS), Statistical Office in Szczecin, “Szczecin Statistics 5/2026”. Data generated as of 22 June 2026. Own analysis based on GUS data.