THE LABOUR MARKET SITUATION OF POPULATION GROUPS AND THE STATE OF THE POLISH ECONOMY

The paper considers the situation of different population groups in the labour market in Poland under good and poor economic conditions. The groups were defined using criteria such as gender, age, educational attainment and the place of residence. As the measures of their situation, unemployment and employment rates, the flow rates between unemployment, employment and inactive, and parameter estimates of a polynomial logit model showing the relative probability of outflows from unemployment and employment were adopted. Statistical analysis was performed on LFS aggregate and individual data from the years 2009-2018, which were divided into two sub-periods: an economic downturn in the years 2009-2013 and an economic upturn in the years 2014-2018. The results of the analysis showed that whether the economy was expanding or contracting, the labour market situation of women, young people aged 15-24 years, and people with elementary and junior secondary education was relatively the worst and that in the years of economic downturn (2009-2013) urban residents had more problems in the labour market than rural populations, with the situation reversing in the years of economic growth (2014-2018). It was also found that the labour market situation of women, older people, people with higher education and general secondary education, and urban residents changed more readily with the economic upturn. These changes were largely due to institutional solutions related to family policy and pension systems, as well as to different labour market mobility of the population groups under consideration.