The paper analyses a constellation of factors concerning, on the one hand, the erosion of skills caused by the systemic transition from communism to capitalism, and on the other hand, the failure to create the skills in need in the quantities required. The aim is to explain the coexistence of skill shortages, emigration and high unemployment in Poland. The analysis is mostly based on regional differentiations in Poland, which are the best means for explaining the causes and foreseeing the implications of these shortages.