Research and development centers in Poland suffer from a lack of people willing to work because although they offer the possibility of self-fulfillment and developing passions, the salaries they offer are many times lower than salaries in the business sector. The resentment of young scientists is deepened by the rapid increase in the minimum wage, which is chasing their earnings, reports Salon24.
“We are facing a problem where the salary of technical support, e.g., cleaning staff, is dangerously close to the salary of an assistant, which means that young people who even have a passion for science do not want to stay at the university because they have to support their family, they go to industry. They are good, so the industry will gladly employ them, offering much better money,” says Prof. Krzysztof Mendrok, the vice-rector for Education at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow to the Newseria news agency.
“We are a country that is scraping the bottom when it comes to Europe in terms of the percentage of GDP allocated to science and research. This means that we are irretrievably losing staff who could educate students and conduct valuable scientific research. Researchers will retire at a certain age and we will have no one to replace them, there will be no people to conduct classes, to conduct research, we will have to rebuild it again, having a generation gap effect,” he added.
In 2023, Poland allocated 1.56 percent of its GDP to research and development, significantly less than European leaders. Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Finland allocated over 3 percent for this purpose, and the average for the entire EU was 2.22 percent. Data collected by Sedlak & Sedlak from a group of 116 research assistants show that the median of their salaries is PLN 6,010 gross (€1,440, last updated in January 2025).
The median wage in the entire national economy (the latest available data for August 2024) is PLN 6,697.52, which is almost PLN 700 more, while the average wage is close to PLN 8,200. The lowest wages of young scientists do not reach PLN 5,000 and are currently only less than PLN 300 gross higher than the minimum wage.
“The problem is not the minimum wage, but the general level of remuneration of academic teachers. We, as a state, should invest more money in the science and higher education sector. In order for our economy to not be just a reproductive economy, so that we are not an assembly plant but a manufacturer of advanced technology products, we must retain valuable employees at universities, so that certain scientific research is conducted here, not abroad, and if here, then for the benefit of our employers, not foreign employers,” Prof. Krzysztof Mendrok explained.
The outflow of young educated people from universities and research centers may translate into the quality of achievements of Polish science and a decline in its importance both within the Polish economy and in comparison to other countries.
“At the moment, we have to be aware that there are other priorities, the priority is security. Everything that the defense sector has gained, we have lost — and it is hard to argue with that, the geopolitical situation that we have at the moment forces this in some way. However, it would be good if there was awareness in society that we are currently allocating very few funds for science, for development, and this is also a guarantee of a certain independence for Poland as a country,” said the professor.
“There is not much time to do something about it. We have to take some action now, if not very radical, then at least small steps to increase the financing of science at various levels,” Mendrok added.
