Polish wages rise faster than expected in September
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Wages at companies in Poland rose faster than expected in September, official data showed on Monday, but with coronavirus cases increasing sharply in the country the figures may not point to a long-term trend.
Corporate wages rose by 5.6% in September from a year earlier to an average of 5,372 zlotys($1,385.93) per month, above analysts’ expectations of 4.5%, the data from the statistics office showed.
Poland’s economy had looked to be rebounding after a lockdown to curb the coronavirus was lifted in May, but recent data has shown the recovery flattening and concerns about the impact of a second wave of the virus have mounted.
“Data on wages gives reason to believe that consumers had a little more money to spend, but as the number of cases is rising, I don’t think they will start spending, it can rather increase savings,” said Piotr Bielski, director of the economic analysis department of Santander Bank Polska.
On Saturday Poland reported a record 9,622 new coronavirus infections. Although infections were on the rise since August, the disease started to spread much faster in October.
“The third quarter was a period of recovery, but since then we have seen a huge increase in the number of infections and there are many indications that the activity will weaken again, so you need to be careful with this data,” Bielski said.
In monthly terms, wages rose by 0.6% in September.
Corporate employment fell by 1.2% year-on-year to 6.312 million people in September. Analysts had expected a year-on-year fall of 1.1%.
In monthly terms, corporate employment rose by 0.3%.
“Average employment continued to rise in September for the fourth consecutive month after the earlier declines, but we know that this increase is somewhat illusory, largely due to the restoration of the previous working hours,” Bielski said.
