A strong April on the labor market. There are a few surprises

From March 2024, employers are publishing more and more job offers. In April 2024, there were 267 thousand of them, in 2023 – 269 thousand, in 2022 – 308 thousand, in 2021 – 283 thousand. and in 2019 – 287 thousand. April 2020 was definitely worse – 142,000. offers shows the uncertainty that employers felt in the first weeks of the pandemic.

Analyst Grant Thornton is of the opinion that the fact that in April in previous years the number of job offers usually decreased slightly compared to March (when seasonal recruitment in agriculture, gastronomy and tourism begins, so there are the most offers) can also be optimistic. This time, however, this was not the case – the number of advertisements was slightly higher in April 2024 than in March. “Perhaps it is just a weather effect (this year's exceptionally warm April), but there is no doubt that employers are on the right track to overcoming the recruitment crisis they experienced last year,” he wrote in the introduction to the analysis.

Labor market. More and more job offers for lawyers

This is not the end of surprises. “In April, the largest increase in the number of job offers on an annual basis was recorded in the legal industry – employers posted here by as much as 40%. more offers than a year ago. A significant increase is also visible among blue-collar workers (22%). However, in April we recorded declines in the dynamics of offers among advertisements for IT employees (-29% y/y), HR employees (-11% y/y) and for financiers (-10% y/y),” we read in the list .

Generous employers

For over a year, the average number of benefits in offers, e.g. sports cards, private medical care and insurance, has remained at a high level. In April 2024, employers offered an average of 6.9 incentives per offer, the most in the history of the study. Invariably, the most frequently offered options include training, a medical package and a sports card, as well as high remuneration and flexible working hours.

A wave of layoffs in Polish companies?

There is a disturbing amount of information in the media about layoffs in companies in various regions. This raises the question about the risk of an increase in unemployment, which has been at around 5 percent for months. and is among the lowest in Europe.

Is there anything to be afraid of? In the latest Bulletin, the Polish Economic Institute noted that despite high employee costs, they want to employ new employees. A survey conducted at the beginning of May by PIE as part of the Monthly Economic Index (MIK) shows that by the end of April 2024, 12 percent. companies hired new employees, and twice as many (24 percent) plan to do so in the following months of 2024. It should be noted that among the companies that increased employment this year, 69 percent plans further recruitment this year. However, among those that did not increase employment by the end of April, 18 percent plans to do this in the following months of 2024.

We write more about this study in the article below.