Bezrobocie w Polsce w okresie transformacji 1989-2003

The unemployment problem is one of the most important consequences of the economic transformation. After 1989 radical changes occurred in the Polish labor market. It was transformed from onewith deficiency of labor into one with deficiency of job offers supply. This transformation resulted in: a decrease in the number of the employed, changes in the structure of employment, a decreasing level of the population's job activity, work in the “grey zone” becoming widespread, and unemployment. The main cause of unemployment in Poland in the 90s was the deep economic crisis. In 2003 the highest unemployment rates were still noted in the warmińsko-mazurskie province (27,5%), the zachodniopomorskie province (26%) and in the lubuskie province (25,5%). The lowest ones were found in the małopolskie and mazowieckie provinces (13,4% each) and in the podlaskie province (14%). Taking under consideration the basic administrative units, i.e. districts, we can say that Warsaw has the least unemployment (3,1%), Poznań (3,7%), Gdańsk, Wrocław and Kraków (from 3,8% to 5,2%). On the other hand the situation on the labor market of some country districts in the warmińsko-mazurskie and zachodniopomorskie provinces is so hard that the unemployment rate there exceeds 40 % of the population at the economically productive age. People who only completed professional training (35,5%) and secondary or primary school (32,2%) constituted the greatest proportion of the unemployed. 4,3% people had graduated from universities. People between 25 and 34 years of age constituted the greatest proportion of the unemployed.