Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Currently, the unemployment benefit is granted for six months – in regions with average
unemployment rate; for twelve months – in regions with more than 125 per cent of the
average unemployment rate; and for 18 months – in regions with unemployment twice as
high as the average, if the applicant has completed 20 qualifying years or is the only
breadwinner and has one child younger than 15. Persons with less than five qualifying years
are granted 80 per cent of the base amount, those with 5-less than 20 qualifying years
receive the full amount, and persons with 20+ qualifying years are entitled to 120 per cent.
Applicants should have worked for at least one year within the previous 1.5 years and may
not receive any additional income. Due to those restrictive rules, only 20 per cent of
registered unemployed receive the benefit, which is very low compared to 60-80 per cent in
Western Europe (Wiśniewski 2002: 336).
After the expiry of the unemployment benefit, only the time-limited and means-tested
social assistance (zasiłek okresowy) may be granted to unemployed but healthy persons. The
duration of payment is a discretionary decision.
Job promotion measures were introduced only in late 1991 after the unemployment rate
has doubled from six to twelve per cent. They enjoy a low priority among labour market
programmes. Between 1997-2001, falling numbers of unemployed were included in such
programmes and the expenditure as percentage of GDP has decreased, whereas for passive
labour market programmes, the opposite was true (Borkowska et al. 2003: 128).
Attention to older workers as target group of active labour market policies was directed
only in November 2004, when a labour market activation programme for ´50pluses´ was
introduced by the PiS-LPR-Samoobrona government (MGiP 2004). Older workers face a
lower risk of becoming unemployed (inter al., because their unemployment is hidden behind
the frequent utilisation of pre-retirement benefits, early retirement and disability pensions;
Gocłowska 2004) but once they become unemployed, they remain in this status for a longer
time (Socha/Sztanderska 2000: 216). Moreover, the rise in absolute numbers of the
unemployed between 1997 and 2004 was largest in the age group 45-54, 55-59 and 60+
(MGiP 2004: 8).
The PO-PSL government presented its new programme for older workers in March 2008
(MPiPS 2008). It is based on the Finnish example and backed by employers´ associations
(„Rozmowa z dr. Michałem Bonim...“, Gazeta Wyborcza 4. Jan. 2008). It stipulates
awareness-raising and training of employers in age management, partial reimbursement for
the costs of training older workers and lowering of social contributions, scholarships and
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