Poland's unemployment rate increased by two percentage points in November to 17.6%

Poland's unemployment rate increased by two percentage points in November to 17.6%, the national statistics office said on Friday, after slipping for the past few months from record levels. It said almost 3.1 million people in the country of 38.3 million inhabitants were out of work in the month. In February the unemployment rate had hit a record level of 18.8 percent in the biggest country on course to join the European Union on May 1. It dropped to 18.7% in March, before starting to slide from the record levels in April and ending at 17.4% in October. Unemployment rose sharply in the mid-1990s after a period of strong growth after the fall of communism in 1989. In preparing its EU membership and restructuring its economy, Poland was forced to shed hundreds of thousands of jobs in the mining, steel and shipbuilding industries, as well as in the areas of education and health. Analysts expect an upturn in unemployment at the end of the year to 17.75% of the active population.