On the last day of December 2025, 1,497.7 thousand people in Poland worked solely under contracts of mandate and similar civil-law agreements (Polish umowa zlecenia). That is 4.8% more than a year earlier, but 0.3% fewer than at the end of September 2025. The figures come from Statistics Poland (GUS), which published them on 15 June 2026 as part of its experimental statistics based on administrative registers.
The scope covers people whose only registered work is a contract of mandate or a similar agreement carrying social- and/or health-insurance obligations — including agency, service and supervisory-board contracts. It excludes contracts for specific work (umowa o dzieło), help with harvests, agreements signed with one’s own employer, and pupils or students up to the age of 26. Both sexes recorded annual gains: the number of women rose 4.2% and the number of men 5.4% against December 2024. Compared with September 2025, however, both groups edged down — women by 0.5% and men by 0.1% — pointing to a seasonal cooling at the close of the year.
Over the period tracked, the headcount expanded by roughly one sixth relative to the March 2023 base. Growth was not linear — each first quarter shows a dip, consistent with the expiry of short-term year-end engagements — yet the underlying trend is clearly upward. By December 2025 the index for men reached 117.6 and for women 113.7, confirming that the male segment has driven the faster expansion of this contract form.
Structure by sex and economic activity
The largest concentration of these workers sits in administrative and support service activities (section N), which includes employment agencies and labour-intermediation firms. At the end of December 2025 this section accounted for 326.2 thousand people, or 21.8% of the total — 0.7 p.p. less than a year earlier. The second-largest was wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair (section G) with 159.8 thousand, or 10.7% of all such workers. Beyond the headline ranking, the sex split varies sharply by activity: construction and transport are overwhelmingly male, while human health and social work, accommodation and food service, and trade lean female.
| Section | Men (k) | Women (k) | Total (k) | Median age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N — Administrative & support services | 170.3 | 155.9 | 326.2 | 41 |
| G — Trade; vehicle repair | 71.0 | 88.7 | 159.7 | 39 |
| Q — Human health & social work | 23.3 | 131.7 | 155.0 | 56 |
| C — Manufacturing | 95.0 | 58.0 | 153.0 | 42 |
| F — Construction | 111.7 | 15.1 | 126.8 | 39 |
| H — Transportation & storage | 96.0 | 19.8 | 115.8 | 39 |
| I — Accommodation & food service | 35.4 | 58.5 | 93.9 | 34 |
| S — Other service activities | 26.7 | 58.7 | 85.4 | 42 |
| M — Professional, scientific & technical | 34.0 | 39.3 | 73.3 | 40 |
| P — Education | 16.5 | 24.9 | 41.4 | 44 |
| L — Real estate | 18.2 | 17.6 | 35.8 | 59 |
| R — Arts, entertainment & recreation | 17.7 | 16.2 | 33.9 | 41 |
| J — Information & communication | 15.9 | 11.7 | 27.6 | 37 |
| K — Financial & insurance | 9.0 | 11.4 | 20.4 | 48 |
| A — Agriculture, forestry & fishing | 10.2 | 8.8 | 19.0 | 44 |
| O — Public administration & defence | 6.8 | 8.0 | 14.8 | 62 |
| E — Water supply; waste management | 7.6 | 3.1 | 10.7 | 51 |
| D — Electricity, gas, steam supply | 1.8 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 50 |
| B — Mining & quarrying | 1.7 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 58 |
Age and ownership profile
The median age of 42.0 years was identical to December 2024, but the distribution underneath is broad. The 20–29 and 30–39 brackets are the most populous, together accounting for more than 640 thousand workers, yet the form also retains a sizeable older cohort: the 60–69 bracket numbers almost 225 thousand. The share of women rises steadily with age — from around 44% among people in their twenties and thirties to 58% in the 60–69 group — a pattern that mirrors the female-dominated health, social-work and education sections. The youngest median ages appear in accommodation and food service (34) and information and communication (37); the oldest in public administration (62) and real estate (59).
By ownership sector the contract form is overwhelmingly a private-sector phenomenon. The private sector employed 1,387.5 thousand of these workers — 92.6% of the total — against 110.3 thousand in the public sector. The public-sector group is markedly more female: women made up roughly 65% of public-sector civil-law workers, compared with around 47% in the private sector.
| Ownership sector | Total (k) | Women (k) | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private sector | 1,387.5 | 657.5 | 92.6% |
| Public sector | 110.3 | 71.4 | 7.4% |
Where the workers live
The largest numbers were recorded in the Warsaw capital region and the Silesian region — 201.2 thousand and 174.8 thousand respectively, equal to 13.4% and 11.7% of the national total. The smallest counts were in the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) region with 30.4 thousand (2.0%) and the Opole region with 31.4 thousand (2.1%). The regional shares were broadly stable against December 2024. A further 16.6 thousand workers lived abroad and are excluded from the regional breakdown.
What it means for business
- The pool of people whose only registered work is a civil-law contract keeps growing — up 4.8% y/y to nearly 1.5 million — confirming the durable role of flexible engagement in the Polish labour market despite tightening regulation.
- More than one in five of these workers is tied to administrative and support services (section N), the bulk of it staffing and labour-intermediation firms. This concentration makes the indicator a useful proxy for demand in the temporary-staffing industry.
- The quarter-on-quarter dip (−0.3%) signals that year-end engagements remain seasonal; companies relying on this workforce should plan for the recurring first-quarter contraction.
- Sharp sectoral sex divides — male-dominated construction and transport versus female-dominated health, trade and hospitality — mean labour-supply risks differ by activity and are not interchangeable across the economy.
- Geographic concentration in the Warsaw and Silesian regions (a combined 25.1% of the total) reflects where service and logistics demand clusters; recruiters operating outside these hubs face a thinner pool.
Own analysis based on GUS data (experimental statistics “Persons performing work solely on the basis of contracts of mandate and similar in Poland in December 2025”, released 15 June 2026, prepared by the Statistical Office in Bydgoszcz). Source data are drawn from administrative registers. Figures are rounded; component sums may differ slightly from totals. Section names follow NACE Rev. 2 (PKD 2007); section S also covers households as employers (T) and extraterritorial organisations (U).
