Why Poland still lags the EU in productivity per hour worked

This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers

Yet the excitement is premature. Poland still has a considerable distance to cover before catching up with Spain. The European Commission forecasts that in 2026 Spain’s GDP per capita – after adjusting for differences in local prices (in purchasing power parity terms) – will amount to 91.5% of the EU average. In Poland, the figure is expected to reach 82.4%. The gap, therefore, remains substantial. In my view, Eurostat’s data are more credible than the IMF’s projections.

A wider gap in productivity per hour worked

A separate issue is productivity per hour worked relative to the EU average. In this respect, Poland’s gap is far wider than in GDP per capita. Poland’s GDP per hour worked amounts to just 69% of the EU average, placing the country fifth from the bottom in the EU ranking. Only Greece, Bulgaria, Latvia and Portugal perform worse. This is illustrated in the chart accompanying the article.

The difference in GDP per hour worked between Poland and the EU’s top performers is almost twofold. These countries include Denmark (135% of the EU average), Belgium (133%), the Netherlands (127%) and Germany (123%).

Fewer people work – but those who do, work longer hours

Two factors explain the gap between GDP per capita and GDP per hour worked. In simplified terms, the first reflects how many people are employed in a country relative to the EU average. The second measures the number of hours worked per employee. This decomposition is presented in the chart below.

The main reason why productivity per hour worked in Poland is lower than its GDP per capita would suggest is the high number of hours worked per employee. According to the AMECO database maintained by the European Commission, this figure for Poland in 2025 was around 1,990 hours. For comparison, only Greece records a higher figure (more than 2,000 hours), while the EU average stands at 1,610 hours. At the other end of the spectrum are countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, where the figure ranges between 1,350 and 1,450 hours. The widespread use of part-time work clearly plays a major role here.

By contrast, the share of people in employment relative to the total population carries somewhat less weight in Poland. It is slightly lower than the EU average, which means that GDP per employee is somewhat higher relative to the EU average (84.6%) than GDP per capita (80.5%) in 2025. In short, fewer people work in Poland – but those who are employed tend to work significantly longer hours than their counterparts elsewhere in the EU.

This factor matters more in countries where part-time work is more common (such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany). In these economies, it is also associated with higher employment rates than the EU average. France represents a different model. There, both the share of people in employment and the number of hours worked by employees are somewhat below the EU average.

Deep-rooted differences

It is worth noting that, as a rule, employees in Central and Eastern Europe work more hours than their counterparts in Western Europe. These differences date back to the 1990s, and there is little indication that they will change abruptly.

An interesting comparison, however, can be seen between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For two decades, the number of hours worked per employee was almost identical in both countries. Since 2015, though, Slovakia has seen a noticeable decline in working hours. This trend has coincided with weaker economic growth in the country over the past decade.