Economy, Labor

The total active labor force in Poland numbers 19.9 million people. Approximately 32 percent of workers are employed in industry, including manufacturing, mining, and construction; 19 percent are employed in agriculture and forestry; and the rest are employed mainly in services, including transportation and trade. Unemployment increased very rapidly during the early 1990s, peaking at about 18 percent; by 2000 the unemployment rate had dropped to 16.7 percent.

Before 1980 all labor unions in Poland belonged to the state-sponsored Central Council of Trade Unions. In 1980 about 85 percent of Polish workers joined free-trade unions affiliated with Solidarity. In May 1981 private farmers were authorized to organize an independent labor organization called Rural Solidarity. Both organizations were dissolved when Poland was placed under martial law in December 1981 and did not become legal again until April 1989. During the 1980s the regime of General Wojciech Jaruzelski organized the All-Poland Trade Unions Alliance (OPZZ). This organization now supports the Social Democratic Party and is stronger in membership than Solidarity, which gained 5 percent of the vote in the 1991 elections but failed to qualify in the 1993 elections. In the early 1990s Solidarity’s leaders were torn between their political responsibilities and the need to support workers in order to compete with the OPZZ.