In the third quarter of last year, 5.97 million Poles collected pension payments, the State Insurance Office (ZUS) has announced. The average monthly pension was PLN 2,540,08 (EUR 562).
At the same time, 754,000 of pensioners, or 12.6 percent, were also working, according to the state-run Central Statistical Office (GUS).
This group grew from 687,000 at the start of 2021, reflecting a clear upward trend, Personnel Service said.
Pensioners are seeking employment in the services and logistics sectors, among other branches of the economy, with the best pay rates available to those providing repairs and renovation services.
Repairs providers typically earn up to PLN 35 (EUR 7.70) per hour, followed by babysitters, who earn up to PLN 30 (EUR 6.60) per hour if they speak a foreign language, according to Personnel Service.
Meanwhile, food-service workers can expect to be paid up to PLN 18.5 (EUR 4.1) per hour, the company said.
'Silver workers' vital for job market
At the end of the third quarter of last year, the number of job vacancies in Poland was 68.5 percent higher than a year earlier.
While the shortage of workers is growing, society is also aging fast, with the number of people aged 60 and over likely to reach 13.7 million, or 40 percent of the Polish population, by 2050, Personnel Service estimated.
That’s why it is necessary to make sure that those aged 50 and over stay active in the labour market, according to experts cited by the company.
So far, just 40 percent of Poles aged between 55 and 64 are in employment, compared to more than 60 percent in Germany and Denmark, according to the professional services firm PwC.
If Poland caught up, over the long term its GDP could rise by up to USD 66 billion (EUR 58 billion), Personnel Service said.
It quoted its expert Krzysztof Inglot as saying that Poland “must introduce activation policies to keep as many people on the labour market as possible.”
This will be beneficial not just to society as a whole, but also to “silver workers themselves, who will be able to increase their income, and to employers, who will gain experienced and valuable staff,” Personnel Service’s Inglot said.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, personnelservice.pl