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Labour force --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total labour force 17,300 17,229 17,097 16,991 17,139 Male 9,397 9,340 9,283 9,215 9,323 Female 7,903 7,889 7,814 7,776 7,816 Employed 14,540 [...]

Labour force ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1998(a) 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total labour force 17,162 17,214 17,300 17,229 17,097 Male 9,284 9,307 9,397 9,340 9,283 Female 7,878 7,907 7,903 7,889 7,814 Employed 15,335 [...]

Population ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002(a) Total 38,667 38,654 38,644 38,632 38,230 % change, year on year 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - By sex: Male 18,798 18,784 18,773 18,761 [...]

These reports have been taken from the various publications and newswires from around the world. Readers are warned that ERJ has not checked these stories, which might contain misleading or [...]

If you plan to conduct business in Poland, keep this factoid in mind: Poland was instrumental in halting the advance of the Ottoman Empire into Europe, driving Turkish armies out […]

Foreign investment in Poland grew by $5.2 billion to over $12 billion in 1996 from 1995. Some foreign companies investing in Poland have made a loss but many intend to reinvest any profits. Businesses financed by foreign capital employ around 3.5% of the Polish workforce. Initially the Polish workforce feared the introduction of foreign investment but increased wages and better working conditions have eased the transition. The introduction of new working practices has been gradually accepted by the workers, with managers gaining most from the organisational changes.

Western companies believe that most manufacturing sectors in the Czech Republic offer excellent value for money. Wage controls in the country are continuing although they are not said to affect successful companies. Labour mobility was discouraged under the communist system and a study showed that most workers would prefer not to relocate to gain a new job. In Poland there are regional, industrial and occupational variations in pay, and the minimum wage is rarely paid.

BACK in the good old communist days, nobody (officially) was out of work. With little eye to cost or efficiency, the state provided cradle;.to grave welfare. Now the market is [...]

During the development years of the 1990s in Poland, money was the most important incentive for employees. Polish employees are now looking to add job satisfaction to their job requirements, and multinational corporations in Poland are tailoring their job offerings accordingly.

It is increasingly difficult for western companies in Poland to employ competent managers aged 40 or more, so they are employing younger managers. This has created difficulties in filling middle management jobs and there are still problems with rapid turnover. Performance related pay is becoming more common, particularly in sales and marketing and the financial sector.

A major element in the transformation of the economies of Central and Eastern European countries is that of unemployment, as the former communist governments move from low wages and low productivity to high reward and high productivity. Figures show that unemployment in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia increased by 53% between 1991 and 1994. In the former Soviet Union, unemployment levels are apparently low, but this may be because these countries are only beginning to transform themselves into capitalist markets and privatisation is in its first stages.