Minimum Wage Change from January 1, 2027: How Much Will It Be and Who Will Be Affected?

As of January 1, 2027, the minimum wage for work and the minimum hourly rate will increase. This is another raise that will affect not only employees earning the minimum wage, but also many other employee benefits and entrepreneurs’ settlements. Check out exactly what’s changing.

New amounts from January 1, 2027

	2026	2027
Minimum wage for work	PLN 4,806	PLN 4,950
Minimum hourly rate (contract of mandate/services)	PLN 31.40	PLN 32.30

Why does this matter beyond employees earning the minimum wage?

The level of the minimum wage serves as a reference point for many other indicators in labor law and social insurance. Employers should keep in mind that an increase in this amount affects, among other things:

the obligation to raise the pay of the lowest-earning employees to the statutory minimum,
the maximum severance pay in layoffs for reasons not related to the employee,
the minimum compensation for mobbing (workplace bullying),
the night-shift work supplement,
the amounts exempt from wage deductions.

How will individual benefits change?

Benefit	2026	2027
Pay for downtime (Art. 81 § 1 of the Labor Code)	PLN 4,806	PLN 4,950
Pay for a month without work performance (Art. 129 § 5 of the Labor Code)	PLN 4,806	PLN 4,950
Compensation for violation of the equal treatment principle (Art. 18³d of the Labor Code)	PLN 4,806	PLN 4,950
Compensation for mobbing (Art. 94³ § 4 of the Labor Code)	PLN 4,806	PLN 4,950
Severance pay (15x the minimum wage)	PLN 72,090	PLN 74,250

Sickness and maternity benefits

The minimum benefit base will also increase, and with it the daily benefit rates:

Benefit amount	2026 daily rate	2027 daily rate
100% of base	PLN 138.24	PLN 142.38
90% of base	PLN 124.42	PLN 128.14
81.5% of base	PLN 112.67	PLN 116.04
80% of base	PLN 110.59	PLN 113.90
75% of base	PLN 103.68	PLN 106.79
70% of base	PLN 96.77	PLN 99.67

The minimum benefit base in 2027 will be PLN 4,271.35 (PLN 4,950 reduced by 13.71%).

What about entrepreneurs’ contributions under the “small ZUS”?

Persons starting a business (without the start-up relief and without unregistered activity) will, throughout 2027, declare a contribution assessment base no lower than PLN 1,485 (30% of the minimum wage). The minimum contributions will then amount to:

PLN 289.87 – retirement (pension) insurance (19.52%)
PLN 118.80 – disability insurance (8%)
PLN 36.38 – sickness insurance (2.45%)
PLN 24.80 – accident insurance (1.67%, for entities registering up to 9 people)

Reminder: the right to “small ZUS” on these terms is available to persons who:

started their business after August 25, 2005,
have not run a business in the last 60 months,
are not carrying it out for a former employer in a scope overlapping with their previous employment.

Limit for unregistered business activity

A higher minimum wage also means a higher revenue threshold qualifying for unregistered business activity. In 2027, this limit (225% of the minimum wage) will be PLN 11,137.50 per quarter. Once this threshold is exceeded, the activity automatically becomes a registered business, and the entrepreneur has 7 days to file an application for entry in the CEIDG (Central Registration and Information on Business).

What should employers and entrepreneurs do?

The change in the minimum wage is a signal to review — and often update — remuneration policies, contracts of mandate, and the rules for settling ZUS contributions.

Legal basis:
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of September 14, 2026, on the amount of the minimum wage for work and the minimum hourly rate in 2027.