Differentiation of human capital in Poland regions – analysis using the methods of multidimensional comparative analysis

Abstract

The paper presents the results of analyzes concerning the assessment of disparities in human capital level in the Polish regions. Methods of multidimensional comparative analysis has been used such as a Czekanowski diagram and synthetic measure, built on the basis of Euclidean metrics and generalised distance measure (GDM). When selecting indicators, human capital was treated as a multifaceted phenomenon that includes such areas as: quality of workers, entrepreneurship, quality of education and research, health and structural mismatches. The analysis was performed not only for average values of the period 2004–2014, but also in dynamic way, that includes rankings for each year. The results indicate the presence of a variation in the level of human capital between regions. Based on the Czekanowski diagram, five groups of regions that are similar in terms of the quality of human can be distinguish. It seems that the greatest diversity is among the most developed regions in terms of the analyzed phenomenon. In addition, the persistent gap between the capital city region and the rest of the regions was confirmed. Analysis of order of regions through time showed a relative stability of the rankings. Despite this, it seems that the differences between the regions with the highest and lowest levels of human capital tend to spread.