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The unemployment rate in Poland at the end of December stood at 13.3 percent, according to the Labor Ministry. Commenting on the figures, Monika Zakrzewska of the employer association, Lewiatan, told Gazeta Wyborcza that Poland will probably end 2013 with a higher unemployment rate than at the close of 2012.

She said that the first months of 2013 would probably see a sharp rise in unemployment due in part to group layoffs in major corporations like Fiat, Avon and Siemens.

These negative trends, however, should reverse in the H2 2013, among others, thanks to new work time laws and an anti-crisis package, intentioned to attract more foreign investment.

The unemployed, on the other hand, are hoping that the zł.500 million which the labor ministry is planning to channel to improve their situation, will work. Ms Zakrzewska predicts, however, that at the end of 2013, the unemployment rate will be higher than at the close of 2012.

Poland A.M.