While Poland’s low unemployment rate means there will likely be no surplus occupations in 2024, 14 professions requiring higher education are projected to be in high demand.
The popularity of specific university majors in Poland doesn’t always align with the needs of the job market, according to a new report. In 2022, a total of 280,882 graduates from 333 higher education institutions completed one of 897 fields of study. On average, these graduates searched for jobs for just under two months and could expect an average first-year salary of 5,384 PLN gross. While Poland’s low unemployment rate means there will likely be no surplus occupations in 2024, 14 professions requiring higher education are projected to be in high demand. Despite the popularity of majors like management, IT, administration, logistics, and economics, the labor market is most in need of specialists in medical fields (medicine, midwifery, nursing, physiotherapy), finance and accounting, as well as psychology and pedagogy. These insights come from the Polish Economic Institute’s report, University Graduates in the Polish Labor Market.
Graduates don’t always choose majors the market needs
More than one-third (35%) of 2022 graduates completed one of just eight fields of study: management (8% of all graduates), nursing (5%), pedagogy (5%), finance and accounting (4%), IT (4%), administration (3%), logistics (3%), and economics (3%). These fields are the most popular in Poland. However, from the labor market’s perspective, only a few of these overlap with fields that are in demand. In fact, only three fields—finance and accounting, pedagogy, and nursing—are both popular and meet the needs of the job market.
According to Dr. Katarzyna Dębkowska, head of the economic foresight team, “Fields of study that align with labor shortages but are less popular offer graduates a strong chance of finding employment quickly after graduation because employer demand is high and the supply of qualified workers is low. Nationwide, this includes graduates in medicine, midwifery, physiotherapy, and psychology. Meanwhile, some of the most popular majors, despite the large number of graduates, still face labor shortages. As a result, graduates in nursing, pedagogy, and finance and accounting are also able to find jobs quickly.”
Easier Job Search for Graduates in High-Demand Fields, But Salaries Vary
Graduates from fields in high demand, like nursing and psychology, tend to find jobs faster than those in more popular fields. For instance, 94% of nursing graduates found employment within the first year after graduation, with an average job search time of just 1.1 months. Similarly, 87% of psychology graduates secured employment in their first year, with an average job search period of less than two months (1.8 months).
However, starting salaries for graduates vary greatly depending on their field of study. The highest average monthly gross salaries, exceeding 7,000 PLN, were reported by graduates in IT (7,356.53 PLN) and nursing (7,330.82 PLN). On the other hand, the lowest salaries were seen among graduates in pedagogy (4,108.70 PLN) and physiotherapy (4,201.10 PLN).
Dr. Anna Szymańska, senior analyst from the foresight team, highlighted that graduates in IT, nursing, and midwifery earn more than the average salary in their local districts and also face a lower risk of unemployment than the average for their regions. While nursing and midwifery are labor-shortage fields, IT remains one of the most popular study fields in Poland.
Meanwhile, graduates in fields such as medicine, physiotherapy, psychology, pedagogy, and finance and accounting tend to earn salaries below the average for their districts, but they still face a lower risk of unemployment compared to the regional average. The same applies to graduates in popular fields like management, logistics, economics, and administration.
Regional variations in labor market needs
Nationwide, the most popular fields of study include management, IT, administration, logistics, and economics. Management is the leading major in 13 out of 16 regions, followed by IT in 10 regions and administration in nine. However, the popularity of these fields doesn’t always match local labor market needs. For example, economics is a popular yet surplus field in the Lubelskie, Małopolskie, Podlaskie, and Świętokrzyskie regions.
The highest number of fields that are both in high demand and popular can be found in the Lubelskie, Małopolskie, Wielkopolskie, and Pomorskie regions. In contrast, some regions only have one field that is both in demand and popular, such as pedagogy in the Lubuskie region and nursing in the Podlaskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie regions. This suggests that in certain areas, the education of graduates does not fully align with local labor market needs.
It’s also worth noting that some professions considered balanced at the national level—meaning the number of graduates meets demand—are in shortage in certain regions. This is particularly true in the medical field, where there is a shortage of speech therapists, audiologists, and paramedics in some regions. There is also a lack of civil engineers, social workers, and human resources specialists in other areas.
Although no surplus occupations requiring higher education were recorded nationwide, some fields have a surplus of graduates in specific regions, particularly in Podkarpackie and Lubelskie. Fields with a surplus of graduates include food technology, economics, sociology, political science, history, philosophy, and cultural studies. This indicates that, at least in some regions, there is little demand for graduates in these fields.
