Unemployment in Poland grew to 10.5 per cent in January, the Ministry of Labour said on Thursday, up one percentage point from December, dpa reported.
The Ministry had predicted a 10 per cent rise in unemployment amid predicted lay-offs across Poland.
"This is a very big increase from month to month, therefore it's something more than a matter of (loss in) seasonal work," economist Adam Antoniak of Bank BPH told the daily Rzeczpospolita. "This means the economic situation is noticeably affecting the labour market."
Poland's unemployment figures could reach up to 17 per cent in the next several years, Stanislaw Gomulka of the Business Center Club told TVN 24.