The average wage in Poland’s private sector rose by 8.1 percent year-on-year in January, well above market forecasts of 4.9 percent, and significantly more than in December, when wages grew 4.4 percent, according to the Central Statistical Office.

“It is difficult to explain what the source of such a substantial acceleration of wages was without detailed data, but in our view this may be due to payment of bonuses or wage rises in a big company and (only partially) to [a] hike of [the minimum] wage, which jumped from zł.1,386 to zł.1,500 in January,” Bank Zachodni WBK analysts wrote in a market report.

Employment growth in the private sector slowed to 0.9 percent year-on-year in January, from over 2 percent y/y a month earlier. In January 2011, the figure stood at 3.8 percent y/y, showing that there has been a substantial slowdown in the Polish labor market, according to BZ WBK.