End-Year Unemployment Rate Seen Slightly Below Forecast

Poland's unemployment rate is expected to stand at approx. 12% at the end of the year versus 12.3% budgeted with the number of unemployed close to 1.9 mln, deputy Labor Minister Jaroslaw Duda informed.

LaborMin estimates that at the end of August the unemployment rate stood at 11.3% versus 11.4% in July, when the number of unemployed measured 1.813 mln. Data from stats office GUS are expected on Friday.

In 2011 budget bill draft Poland assumes 9.9% jobless rate at end-2011.