Real wages drop in Poland

Has anyone on PF personally discerned the wage drop or is it still too small to be felt by family budgets?
According to the Central Statistical office (GUS) wages increased in the first three quarters of this year by 3.6 percent, with prices rising by four percent in that period.

The Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily writes that real wages will fall by up to 0.6 percent in 2012, the first time living standards have fallen since 1992, as the economy in Poland was reeling from the effects of free market reforms introduced after the fall of communism.

Not me, mine went up by 8% roughly and with the prospect of even more, but I took a 4 day week instead as I've gone back to study more and would like a day off sometime.


Let's consider that you have no idea what I actually do :) Here's a hint - it's not "TEFL".

Then again, what would a career Anglo-centric basement dweller know?

There's a difference between a young backpacker turning up and finding a TEFL job and someone who has chosen to make a life here. The figures quoted would be fairly accurate for the former, but not the latter. Anyway, what's the point? This guy just hates Brits.

And even then it's inaccurate - I was teaching EFL in Warsaw over a decade ago and getting more than double that.

Snap. But it's always nice for a racist Canadian to tell those of us who do actually live in Poland all about how our lives are.

As for the supposed real wages drop in Poland, I can't say I've noticed it at all. If anything, I seem to have more money in my pocket (but that could be due to changes in beer sales in Warsaw).


Clearly you have never met Delph. Although I suppose doing that would require going to Poland.

Do you have anything to say about the topic of this thread? Have you perhaps noticed a drop in your income as a result of this fall in real wages?

I'm not trying to take any sides here but from my personal experience in Poland, I haven't met any expat (Brit, American or Canadian), who was making more than 3500pln as a teacher a month but then again, of course I haven't met that many of them, maybe about 50 altogether.

The going rate here for a 45-minute lesson when done with a school (according to the two people I just texted and one I Skyped) is 55+zl. At that rate a teacher who works 12 hours a week earns 3,500zl per month. So clearly you haven't met any from Warsaw or you've only met very lazy ones.

Although I should probably note that those wages are pretty similar to what I was getting years ago, which does suggest a significant drop in real wage.

12 hours a week earns 660 a week, right Harry? ;-) How did you come up with 3500 pln a month? hey, I'm not trying to criticize any of you but you have clearly miscalculated something here. We both know that it's not that easy to get enough hours and if you're lucky enough to get a steady job as a teacher in Poland, it probably doesn't happen very often for people to go over the previously mentioned 3500 pln. However, I'm not saying that you guys don't make more, anything's possible.

No: you are saying how much a person who works 12 45-minute lessons earns. An hour is not actually 45 minutes long.


Partly that, but partly because everybody is under pressure to cut costs, which means they are looking for the schools with the cheapest prices. It's cyclical: they'll soon remember that cheapest very rarely is even close to acceptable from the quality viewpoint.

OK, so you're saying that a teacher makes about 70-75 pln and hour (60 min), right?

Has it really changed that much since 2008? Anyone I talked to, was making between 35-55 a lesson (met only one guy who claimed to make 55) but then again, it seemed like it was a problem to get enough hours.

You go round asking people how much they earn?

I can't imagine anyone who's a teacher in Warsaw doing it for less than 5000 net.

Jon, I'm only saying what I know from people who were (maybe still are) doing it for a living when I was in Poland. I was just trying to google it out but I couldn't find even one job that offers that kind of money. As I said earlier, I'm not saying, it's impossible.

Drop the teaching-it's only one proffesion.I also haven't noticed anything spectacular.My family is safe since they work in public companies but even my friends that work in private sector earn the same.

The jobs I'm mentioning:accountant,railwayman,job in prison,restaurants and supermarkets.

There's the key. You claim to have asked 50 people their salary, now you're looking on search engines.

It's probably passed you by that in Warsaw most people who teach in-company don't have a 'job' as such - they do work for more than one contractor and usually directly. And certainly don't work for 3500.

only to find out if things have changed so dramatically since I was there. What's so strange about it?


I'm not talking about Warsaw in particular, more about the general situation. It sounds like Warsaw must be totally different than the rest of Poland (talking wages, of course)

There's certainly a gap between income levels in large cities and in the sticks. However even small town teachers can do (and usually do) quite well from privates.

Another factor is that in cities with a large corporate presence, more training its done in-company which usually pays more, not to mention that companies often feel direct with the trainer rather than through a middleman.

Depends. You can still clear 5000zl+ a month in Poznan if you put the effort in, but you'll never get that from working for only one or two schools. Or you can work for an international school...

I only work for one school- you guys know which one it is. I've got 26 hours a week for which I'm paid x zl per month as per my contract. If I exceed my contract hours for the, which I will and which I've done every year since starting there, I'll be paid overtime at the end of my contract. It usually comes out to about 10,000zl on top of my monthly contract salary. BTW, that stays the same every month regardless of holidays or Christmas/semester or Easter breaks.

I also teach four hours on Saturday. That's not included in my contract and is paid extra.

Throw in some private lessons and things are just fine here in Gdansk. >5000zl a month. And my monthly expenses are way less than Bieganski's 2500-2800 zl a month.

But you see, you're actually living here and being professional - which is why it's no problem for you to get that kind of money.

Always thought the biggest problem for natives was just that - being professional. Which reminds me, I need to write/post a job advert :/

According to the Central Statistical office (GUS) wages increased in the first three quarters of this year by 3.6 percent, with prices rising by four percent in that period.

The Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily writes that real wages will fall by up to 0.6 percent in 2012, the first time living standards have fallen since 1992, as the economy in Poland was reeling from the effects of free market reforms introduced after the fall of communism. (pg)

so is the above true? If so, looks like Poland is not avoiding the recession.
Also 50 zl hr for teaching - zus and tax is pretty bad money for a city like warsaw.
Pay is twice that in Berlin and rent is a lot cheaper than warsaw.

It's all in the first link in the first post.

why are people so nonobjective on this thread,who cares if two or three people earn more than they did last year, is the thread not about Poland in general and not just three British boys bragging about how much money they can make.

Ive heard that groupon is killing the language market here in Gdansk. A friend of mine worked for a school in Gdansk where there were 19 students in the class, all group on so they crammed as many in as possible. FOr that, he was getting 35 zl an hour. Luckily I work in an industry where groupon cant go

is that net? after( full )zus and tax, how much is left from your 50 zl? 35, 30?

Me too, but in reality, people who book language classes through Groupon won't last. Language schools will get roughly 50% of what students pay Groupon - it's totally unsustainable.


It's pretty unlikely that language schools will be paying ZUS.

But unfortunately in a small city like Gdansk, people don't care about quality, price is all that matters. The people who attend these classes don't know any different and they are happy to be rammed in a classroom with photocopied textbooks.

Listen up everyone;I don't care who started what,but it's time to keep this on topic and to quit making personal comments about one another.Thank you.

I want to work for your company and vacation at the same time. So you will hire me at a good rate maybe free if I like it. Where will I go to work in Poland?

Give me strength......

what is that supposed to mean?