Wages Rise in Krakow

According to a report in the Rzeczpospolita newspaper, since the first half of 2005 average salaries in smaller Polish cities have risen faster in comparison to Warsaw. Krakow, along with Wrocław and Gdańsk, saw wages rise between 38 and 39 percent when compared with the capital.

“Investors recognise that they can do good business in cities other than the capital, [and] that they can find good, well-educated workers [outside Warsaw],” Tomasz Susmarski from the Institute for Market Economics told Rzeczpospolita.

The study cited the boom in investment that began in late 2004 and took place nationwide as the main reason for the pay rises. The highest gains were in Rzeszów and Szczecin, rising as much as 43 and 46 percent, respectively. Smaller cities and towns have seen much more growth in wages than those with higher average salaries such as Warsaw and Katowice.

As the nation’s largest city and financial capital, Warsaw has traditionally offered the highest average wages, but this report shows that the rest of Poland is quickly catching up.