This paper is to analyse the Polish job market during the second wave of unemployment (since the fourth quarter of 1998). Using the Non-Accelerating-Inflation Rate of Unemployment - the NAIRU - the authors attempt to assess the effect of both macro-economic policy and selected cyclical factors on the unemployment growth in Poland in the period analysed.

In the introduction to the article the basic characteristics of the second wave of unemployment in Poland are presented. Chapter 2 focuses on various macro-economic approaches to the concept of deflationary costs and explains the concept of the equilibrium rate of unemployment. Chapter 3 discusses the possibilities for employing the NAIRU theory in planning an economic policy. Conditions of deflation in Poland as well as well as the characteristics of unemployment growth have been analysed in the next chapter. In Chapter 5 the authors present an estimated NAIRU for Poland and compare it with other authors' conclusions. Key conclusions are presented in Chapter 6.