Polityka Insight presentation at the Danish Embassy

1. Polish labour market
Basic facts and figures
Piotr Arak
Chief Researcher, Polityka Insight
1

2. Unemployment rate
16.1
18.3
20 19.8
19.1
17.9
13.9
9.6
7.1
8.1
9.7 9.7 10.110.3
9
7.5
0
5
10
15
20
25
EU28 Poland
4.6
5.1
5.3
5.4
5.7
6.2
6.2
6.4
6.8
6.8
6.9
7.4
7.5
8.5
9
9.1
9.2
9.4
9.4
9.4
9.9
10.4
11.5
11.9
12.6
15
16.3
22.1
24.9
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Germany
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
Malta
Austria
Denmark
Estonia
Luxembourg
Hungary
Romania
Netherlands
Sweden
Poland
Belgium
Slovenia
Lithuania
Bulgaria
EU28
Ireland
Finland
Latvia
France
Slovakia
Italy
Portugal
Cyprus
Croatia
Spain
Greece
2

3. Employment rate
55
61
61
62
66
67
67
68
68
68
68
69
69
69
69
70
70
71
73
73
73
74
75
76
77
77
77
78
81
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85
Greece
Croatia
Italy
Spain
Romania
Bulgaria
Belgium
Slovakia
Malta
Poland
Cyprus
Ireland
Hungary
Portugal
Slovenia
France
EU28
Luxembourg
Latvia
Finland
Lithuania
Austria
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Denmark
Estonia
United Kingdom
Germany
Sweden
Employment rate (20-64)
40
40
42
42
43
44
47
47
48
49
51
52
53
57
57
57
58
58
58
60
64
65
66
66
67
68
69
69
79
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Slovenia
Luxembourg
Greece
Malta
Romania
Croatia
Belgium
Poland
Hungary
Austria
Italy
Slovakia
France
Portugal
EU28
Cyprus
Spain
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Ireland
United Kingdom
Finland
Latvia
Lithuania
Netherlands
Denmark
Estonia
Germany
Sweden
Employment rate (55-64)
3

4. Women employment and wages
46
51
54
56
56
57
60
61
62
63
63
64
64
64
65
65
66
66
66
70
71
71
71
72
72
73
73
74
78
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Greece
Italy
Malta
Croatia
Spain
Romania
Slovakia
Poland
Hungary
Ireland
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
EU28
Slovenia
Luxembourg
Portugal
France
Czech Republic
Austria
Latvia
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Finland
Lithuania
Denmark
Estonia
Germany
Sweden
Women employment rate (20-64)
4
5
7
7
8
9
10
10
10
10
13
13
15
16
16
21
25
26
28
30
32
32
33
34
35
36
37
39
41
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Bulgaria
Romania
Lithuania
Latvia
Hungary
Poland
Croatia
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Estonia
Malta
Portugal
Greece
Cyprus
Slovenia
Spain
EU28
United Kingdom
Italy
Ireland
Germany
Austria
Finland
Netherlands
France
Luxembourg
Sweden
Belgium
Denmark
Average hourly wage
4

5. Job quality
28
31
34
35
37
37
38
39
40
41
43
44
45
46
46
46
47
47
49
49
53
64
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Finland
Denmark
Ireland
Estonia
United Kingdom
Luxembourg
Sweden
Belgium
Czech Republic
Netherlands
average
Austria
France
Germany
Portugal
Poland
Italy
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Hungary
Spain
Greece
Job strain in 2015*
*Time pressure, physical health risk factors, work autonomy and
learning opportunities, social support at work.
Temporary employment (20-64)
1
2
3
3
4
5
5
6
7
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
11
11
12
14
14
14
15
16
17
18
21
22
0 5 10 15 20 25
Romania
Lithuania
Estonia
Latvia
Bulgaria
United Kingdom
Austria
Malta
Ireland
Denmark
Belgium
Greece
Czech Republic
Luxembourg
Slovakia
Hungary
Germany
Italy
UE28
Finland
Sweden
France
Netherlands
Slovenia
Cyprus
Croatia
Portugal
Spain
Poland
5

6. Junk contracts ~1,09 mln people,
7 percent of the workforce
66%
16%
10%
8%
contracts for mandate; social
security but no labour law
self-employed; no labour law
contracts for specific task; no
social security, low tax-wedge
and no labour law
other kinds of contracts; no
labour law and a lower tax-
wedge
6

7. Tax wedge
7
18
20
22
22
22
27
28
31
32
32
32
34
35
36
36
36
37
38
38
39
39
40
41
42
43
43
43
44
48
49
49
49
50
55
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Chile
New Zealand
Mexico
Israel
Korea
Switzerland
Ireland
Australia
United Kingdom
Canada
United States
Japan
Iceland
Poland
OECD
Netherlands
Denmark
Norway
Luxembourg
Turkey
Estonia
Greece
Spain
Slovak Republic
Portugal
Slovenia
Sweden
Czech Republic
Finland
France
Italy
Hungary
Germany
Austria
Belgium
20
25
30
35
40
45
50%
59%
68%
77%
86%
95%
104%
113%
122%
131%
140%
149%
158%
167%
176%
185%
194%
203%
212%
221%
230%
239%
248%
Poland OECD
7

8. Retirment age
60
64
64
65
65
65
65
65
65
65
65
65
65
66.8
66.9
67
67
67
67
67.8
68
69
69.4
71.5
72.5
50 55 60 65 70 75
Slovenia
Bulgaria
Romania
Austria
Belgium
Estonia
Spain
France
Hungary
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Latvia
Malta
Portugal
Greece
Germany
Croatia
Norway
Poland
Slovakia
Ireland
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Denmark
Statutory retirment age in 2060Statutory retirment age in 2014
50 55 60 65 70
Slovenia
Czech Republic
France
Greece
Hungary
Latvia
Malta
Slovakia
Lithuania
Estonia
Cyprus
Bulgaria
Romania
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
Ireland
Luxembourg
Poland
Spain
Netherlands
Germany
Portugal
Norway
women men
8

9. Policy developments (1)
• The government approved an unexpectedly
generous increase in minimum wage for 2017. The
minimum wage is set to rise to pre-tax PLN 2,000
from the current PLN 1,850 - above the employers
offer (PLN 1,862), Minstry of Family proposal (PLN
1,920), and labour unions’ expectations (PLN 1,920).
In the end, the minimum wage will increase 8.1
percent next year, double the government’s
expectation for general wage increase in the
economy. Only once in the past was the minimum
wage increase higher - in 2008 when it rose PLN 190
due to fast economic expansion (7.2 per cent) and
rising salaries in a corporate sector (9.1 per cent) in
2007.
9

10. Policy developments (2)
• Hourly minimum wage. Many people employed
under civil law contracts are paid less than
the minimum hourly rate. The amendment to the
law on the minimum wage envisages the
introduction of a minimal hourly wage for people
employed on a contract of mandate, contract for
the provision of services and those self-
employed. It will be fixed in the same way as the
minimum wage - indexed every year and
consulted with the Council for Social Dialogue.
The statutory rate is PLN 13 gross, and it will
come into effect from January 1, 2017. It will not
apply to contracts for specific work.
10

11. Policy developments (3)
• Family 500 plus programme. From April
2016, parents are able to apply for an
allowance of PLN 500 per child. Parents of
two children and more are eligible to
receive an allowance for each of them, but
the benefit for the first child will only apply
to families with a monthly income per
household member below PLN 800. The
money will be distributed by welfare
centres. The ministry plans to revise the
amount after three years and index the
allowance. Costs about 1.3 percent GDP.
11

12. Policy developments (4)
• Poland sets limits for Ukrainians coming to work.
Poland is obliged to implement European Parliament
and European Commision Directive 2014/36/EU on
the conditions of entry and employment of third-
country nationals. It requires the reduction of the
informal economy among migrant workers and
introduces the possibility of refusing entry for short
stays. Ministry wants to tighten the rules for
undertaking short-term work by the citizens of
Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and
Ukraine. So far, simplified rules apply - employers
apply for employees in district labour offices (PUP).
In 2015, about 800,000 foreigners took work on this
basis. The procecedure is set to be more beuroctatic.
12

13. Policy developments (5)
• Lower retirment age from 2017. President Andrzej Duda
wants to bring back the retirement age regulations that
were in place before the 2012 reform: lower the retirement
age and cancel the partial pensions for those older than 60-
65 years of age until they reach the full retirement age.
According to the draft, the minimum required period of
social security payments, currently set at 25 years for both
sexes, will be differentiated: women will have to work only
for 20 years to receive the minimum pension.More than 80
percent of Poles support the lowering of the retirement age,
including almost all of PiS and Kukiz '15 voters (94 and 91
percent respectively), but it also has the support of a
majority of the Nowoczesna Party and PO electorate (53
percent).
13

14. Policy developments (6)
• Minimum wage for the young.
• Limiting special protection for women at work.
• Employment contracts in public procurement.
• Persons employed on civil law contracts will
secure the right to organise in trade unions. This
is another change that will blur the differences
between contracts of employment and civil law
contracts.
• From autumn the codification committee at the
Ministry has eighteen months to rewrite the
Labour Code and Industrial Relations Code. We
expect many changes.
14