Information for this page was compiled during December 2023 and January 2024. As Member States are currently transposing the EU minimum wage directive, national legislation can be subject to change. Eurofound intends to update these profiles in early 2025. Users are invited to contact Eurofound if they are aware of changes.
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The minimum wage regulation in Poland is based on the Act of 10 October 2002 on the minimum wage (Akt prawny). The minimum wage is subject to periodic adjustments through regulations issued by the government. These regulations specify the yearly new minimum wage rates. The latest regulation was issued on 15 September 2023.
As for any major changes in the minimum wage regulation in the past ten years, the following issues can be mentioned.
Firstly, a recent amendment: from 1 January 2024 the list of components of remuneration not taken into account when calculating the employee’s remuneration has been expanded to the bonus for performing work in special conditions (art. 6(5) of the Minimum Wage Act). Moreover, the definition of additional bonus for special working conditions was added (art. 1(11)).
Secondly, in 2019 the catalog of components of remuneration for work that is considered when calculating the minimum wage was expanded to cover the seniority bonus (art. 6(5) of the Minimum Wage Act). Moreover, due to the diverse principles of granting seniority bonuses applied by individual employers, the law introduced a definition of the seniority bonus (art. 1(10)). This change will be further discussed in section ‘What counts towards the minimum wage’.
Thirdly, in 2017 a minimum hourly rate was introduced for individuals performing work based on civil-law contracts (different than employment contracts in the Polish system, and not regulated by the Labour Code), including self-employed individuals. This pertains to employees remunerated based on hourly wage rates (art. 7(3) of the Act). This regulation applies to civil-law contracts (art. 734 of the Civil Code) or contracts for services to which the provisions on commission apply (art. 750 of the Civil Code). Similar to the monthly minimum wage, the minimum hourly rate is set at the national level and is not differentiated across regions, professional groups, or age.
Furthermore, from 1 January 2017, the regulation allowing payment of remuneration at the level of 80% of the minimum wage during the first year of employment was ceased to apply for employees who are taking up employment for the first time.
According to the provisions of the art. 2(1) of the Minimum Wage Act, the amount of the minimum wage is negotiated annually within the Social Dialogue Council (Rada Dialogu Społecznego). The statutory members of the Social Dialogue Council are representatives of the government, trade unions representatives and employers' organizations representatives. Representatives of the President of the Republic of Poland, the President of the National Bank of Poland, the President of the Central Statistical Office (Statistics Poland), and the Chief Labour Inspector, participate to the work of the Council by providing advisory opinions.
Negotiations regarding the determination of the minimum wage level for the following year take place annually. The Council of Ministers, by 15 June of each year, presents to the Social Dialogue Council a proposal for the adjustment of the minimum wage for the next year and a proposal for the minimum hourly rate for the next year, along with the deadline for changing these amounts (art. 2(2)(1) of the Act). The Social Dialogue Council agrees on the amount of the minimum wage and the amount of the minimum hourly rate within 30 days from the date of receiving the proposal and information from the Council of Ministers (art. 2(3) of the Act).
If within this period the Social Dialogue Council fails to reach an agreement on the amount of the minimum wage for the next year and does not establish the minimum hourly rate for the next year, the decision is then made and announced by the Council of Ministers through regulation by 15 September of that year. However, the minimum wage and the minimum hourly rate set by the Council of Ministers cannot be lower than the minimum wage and the minimum hourly rate proposed by 15 June (art. 2(5) of the Act).
It is worth noting that since 2010, the Social Dialogue Council has been unable to reach a consensus, and for the past several years, the minimum wage has been determined solely by the Council of Ministers.
Also, according to the Act, the minimum wage in Poland may increase once or twice during the calendar year. The frequency of changes is determined by art. 3 of the Act and depends on the forecasted average annual consumer price index for goods and services. If the forecasted consumer price index for goods and services for the following year is at least 105%, two dates for changing the minimum wage and minimum hourly rate are established: 1 January and 1 July. If the forecasted consumer price index for goods and services for the following year is less than 105%, only one date for changing the minimum wage and minimum hourly rate is established: 1 January (art. 3 of the Act).
The Act of 10 October 2002 on the minimum wage provides for indicators that the Council of Ministers presents to the Social Dialogue Council before making a decision regarding the increase in the minimum wage. These include (art. 2(2) points 2-10):
The forecasted consumer price index for goods and services for the next year, as mentioned in the Act and based on which decisions regarding the level and frequency of changes to the minimum wage and the minimum hourly rate are made, is the average annual overall consumer price index for goods and services adopted for the preparation of the draft budget act (art. 1(2)(2)).
The Act also specifies the minimum annual growth rate of the minimum wage in such a way that the average level of the minimum wage in a given year increases by no less than the forecasted overall consumer price index for goods and services for that year (art. 5(1)).
The Act also indicates that if the forecasted price index differs from the actual price index in the previous year, when determining the minimum wage for the next year, the level of the minimum wage in the year preceding the year for which the minimum wage is determined is taken into account, adjusted by the verification index. The verification index is obtained by dividing the price index in the previous year by the forecasted price index in the previous year, based on which the proposal for the minimum wage is determined (art. 5(2-3)).
Furthermore, if in the year of negotiations, the minimum wage is lower than half the average wage in the first quarter of the year in which negotiations take place, the degree of the minimum wage increase is additionally enhanced by two thirds of the forecasted real growth rate of the gross domestic product (GDP) (art. 5(4)).
There are certain categories of individuals who may be exempted or subject to specific regulations regarding the minimum wage. This obligation does not apply to contracts concluded between individuals who do not conduct business activities. The following contracts, as mentioned in arts. 734 and 750 of the Civil Code, are also excluded from the application of the minimum hourly wage:
As for apprentices and trainees, their conditions are regulated by separate agreements or specific provisions and do not refer to the minimum wage.
The statutory minimum wage in Poland is not subject to any differentiation according to the region, industry, economic sector, professional group, skills, or age. It applies to all employees aged 18 and over (apart from the exemptions mentioned in the previous section). As for younger employees, so called juvenile employees, their remuneration is based on a separate act, the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 28 May 1996 on the employment of juvenile workers and their remuneration (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 2010, as amended). Art. 190 § 1 of the Labor Code (Journal of Laws 1974, No. 24, item 141;) defines a juvenile employee as a person over 15 years of age but under 18 years of age. The remuneration of juvenile employees is regulated by the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 28 May 1996 on the vocational training of juvenile workers and their remuneration, as amended. According to § 19.1, during the period of vocational training, a juvenile worker is entitled to remuneration calculated as a percentage of the average monthly remuneration in the national economy in the previous quarter, effective from the first day of the month following the announcement by the President of the Central Statistical Office in the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland "Monitor Polski". According to § 19.2, such percentage is equal to:
1) no less than 8% - in the first year of education or the first grade of a first-cycle vocational school in the case of a juvenile pursuing theoretical education at this school;
2) no less than 9% - in the second year of education or in the second grade of a first-cycle vocational school in the case of a juvenile pursuing theoretical education at this school;
3) no less than 10% - in the third year of education or in the third grade of a first-cycle vocational school in the case of a juvenile pursuing theoretical education at this school.
Apart from the above-mentioned, there are no sub-minimum rates and there are no higher statutory rates for any group of workers.
The statutory minimum wage for work in Poland is set at a monthly level. The Act doesn't explicitly dictate the number of payments at the specified rate, but rather sets a minimum monthly amount. According to the Polish labour law, the working time should not on average exceed eight hours per day and 40 hours per five-day working week; a weekly working time, including the overtime hours, should not exceed 48 hours (Art. 129 (1) & Art. 131 (1) of the Labor Code).
Since 2017, a minimum hourly rate has also been established for employees remunerated based on hourly wage rates (art. 7(3) of the Act).
If an employee is employed on a part-time basis for less than a full month, the minimum wage is determined in proportion to the number of hours worked by the employee in that month, based on the minimum wage set for a given year (art. 8 of the Act).
Also, according to the Law of 12 December 1997, on additional remuneration for employees of public sector entities one group of workers is entitled to receive a thirteenth monthly payment – namely, public sector employees (excluding the armed forces, police and other uniformed services). This annual remuneration is set at 8.5% of the total remuneration for work received by the employee during the previous calendar year (art. 4.1 of the above act). In the private sector the 13th wage can be paid if it is provided for by company’s individual regulations.
According to the Act, when calculating the employee's remuneration, the components and benefits resulting from the employment relationship are considered, classified according to the principles of employment and remuneration statistics specified by Statistics Poland for personal remuneration. However, when calculating the employee's remuneration, the following are not taken into account: jubilee prizes, cash severance payment due to the employee in connection with retirement or disability pension, remuneration for overtime work, supplement to remuneration for work during night hours, and seniority bonus (art. 6(4-5)). Starting from 1 January 2024, an amendment to the law states that when calculating the employee's remuneration, the bonus for special working conditions is also not taken into account.
As mentioned in the ‘Regulation’ section, in 2019 the catalog of components of remuneration for work that is taken into account when calculating the minimum wage was expanded to cover the seniority bonus (art. 6(5) of the Minimum Wage Act). Moreover, due to the diverse principles of granting seniority bonuses applied by individual employers, the law introduced a definition of the seniority bonus (art. 1(10)). Before this reform, the base salary offered by the employer could have been lower than the minimum wage level because several additional payments (e.g. seniority bonus) could have been added and thus increase the actual salary up to the minimum wage level. After the reform, these bonuses can no longer be included in the calculation of the minimum wage. The seniority bonus can be paid additionally by the employer, but it is no longer included in the minimum wage.
There are no regular national reports on minimum wage setting in Poland. There is only a regular short annual information on minimum wage level and minimum hourly rate established for the following year, published on the Council of Ministers webpage.
The governmental legislative website publishes (only in Polish) information regarding the process of determining the minimum wage in Poland. In addition to the government's proposal for changing the minimum wage for the next year, its justification and impact on various sectors of the economy are presented. The positions of social partners in the process of determining the minimum wage are also outlined.
Position papers, opinions
Scientific literature