Since many years the most difficult situation occurs on the labour markets located peripherally with respect to the capital city. At the end of December 2013 the difference between the lowest and the highest unemployment rate in Mazovia was 34.1 percentage points. A fact worth stressing is that Mazowieckie voivodship has the largest number of registered unemployed persons – one in eight unemployed people in Poland resides in Mazovia. High degree of territorial differentiation of unemployment is a result of both uneven socio-economic development of the regions and their geographical location. Geographical location of a powiat, distance from major cities or the degree of development of the infrastructure often have impact on the level of economic development or human capital development and are decisive for how quickly an individual can find a job adequate to qualifications possessed. However, the accession to the European Union (EU) has brought opening of the labour market and increased opportunities for undertaking employment not only in the home country but also abroad. As a result, residence in a particular powiat no longer limits its inhabitants to look for work only in the nearest neighbourhood. 

Bearing in mind the above, this analysis attempts to present territorial differentiation of unemployment in Mazovia. It identifies groups of powiats which are uniform with respect to the level of unemployment and its differentiation according to selected socio-demographic characteristics. The analysis was performed using one of the clustering methods, i.e. Ward’s method. Data only refer to the unemployed registered in the powiat labour offices and those looking for work through these institutions. The paper uses information drawn from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy reports (form MPiPS-01) compiled by the powiat labour offices. The analysis was performed using SPSS software.