Government proposes reform of employment services
Publicerad: 29 October 2003
Since Poland instituted an administrative decentralisation to the regions and districts in 1999, employment services have been the responsibility of the latter. As a result, the national government has found it more difficult to pursue a cohesive set of labour market policies, particularly in terms of measures called for under the EU's European employment strategy. Thus, in August 2003, the government proposed new legislation on employment promotion and labour market institutions, aimed at reintroducing a degree of central control. Trade unions would prefer a full-scale return to centralisation.
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Since Poland instituted an administrative decentralisation to the regions and districts in 1999, employment services have been the responsibility of the latter. As a result, the national government has found it more difficult to pursue a cohesive set of labour market policies, particularly in terms of measures called for under the EU's European employment strategy. Thus, in August 2003, the government proposed new legislation on employment promotion and labour market institutions, aimed at reintroducing a degree of central control. Trade unions would prefer a full-scale return to centralisation.
Poland is struggling with a persistently high level of unemployment (PL0307107F). While a slight improvement has been achieved in 2002-3, the unemployment rate still exceeds 17%. Apart from the high proportion of retirees and of people drawing disability benefits/pensions, this is one of the main reasons for the very low employment rate - defined in Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Social Policy (Ministerstwo Gospodarki, Pracy i Polityki Społecznej, MGPiPS) statistics as the proportion of employed people among all citizens aged 15 through 64. What is more, the employment rate continues to fall; in the fourth quarter of 2001, it stood at 52.7%, while one year later it was 51.2%. By comparison, the average employment rate for the European Union Member States is approximately 64%, and the strategy adopted at the Lisbon European Council summit in March 2000 (EU0004241F) calls for its increase to 70% by 2010. While the chances that Poland can meet the Lisbon goal appear rather slight, the government has declared that it will do all in its power to improve the country’s employment rate. One of the measures introduced with this aim is a set of new regulations concerning employment promotion and the transformation of labour market institutions.
Present situation
In 1999, a far-reaching reform of Poland's system of regional and local government was implemented (PL0307105F). The main purpose was to decentralise power, giving regional and local governments a wide scope of authority. While such administrative decentralisation was regarded as necessary, it engendered certain negative side-effects, especially in those areas where the actions of local and regional bodies must be coordinated at a national level. The central government has found itself deprived of the instruments needed to enforce some uniformity and cohesiveness in the work of local and regional bodies across the country. Matters are made worse by the dearth of funds facing the government. One area in which this state of affairs has had negative consequences is fighting unemployment and providing vocational activation measures. Given a completely decentralised structure, not all functions of the state can be successfully attended to. The effective attainment of certain objectives of national significance requires more or less coordinated action by all units of local and regional government. However, the administrative reform approved by parliament in 1999 and launched in early 2000 left regional and local governments with a high degree of independence. This may be regarded as a good thing in itself, but it has effectively impeded any central control over implementation of certain general policies.
Before the reform, the Polish state operated a centralised system of labour offices, headed by the National Labour Office (Krajowy Urząd Pracy). These offices disposed of their own premises and full-time personnel, and they were inter-linked by means of the 'Puls' information technology system. As a result of the reform’s implementation, these offices came under the control of local and regional authorities and all the ties previously connecting them were severed. The centralised system was replaced with a structure which is unique in Europe. In each of the 16 regions (voivodships) into which Poland has been divided since the reform, two independent offices charged with employment matters were established. One of these offices is operated by the regional government, the other by the central administration. Furthermore, each of the 338 districts (powiats) now has its own labour office. The local and regional authorities took over the staff and physical infrastructure of the previously centrally operated labour offices and they also received funds from the state budget (with the use of these funds practically left to their own prerogative). Any central control over these labour offices’ operation was significantly weakened. Some local and regional authorities have since been cutting back the funds assigned to their labour offices, reducing the number of appropriately trained personnel while employing new staff without adequate preparation, and pursuing their own policies which do not always mesh with the priorities of the national government.
Some of the buildings previously housing the labour offices have been taken over by the local and regional authorities, with the labour offices relegated to inferior premises. Some districts have also come to treat the positions of labour office chief and social aid centre chief as political posts, staffing them in reference to party allegiance rather than to experience and skills. It appears that, in certain districts, the people assigned to public works by the local labour office have not been the most needy, but people connected with the labour office personnel by family links or social obligation. While these undesirable phenomena have so far occurred on a limited scale only, it would appear from press coverage and from information given by Ministry employees that they are on the increase.
The most difficult problem facing the district labour offices is that of qualified staff shortages. According to information from the Ministry of the Economy, Labour, and Social Policy, the total workforce of labour offices and social aid centres has fallen by almost 2,000 over 2000-2. The absence of qualified job placement ('intermediation') workers and vocational counsellors is particularly disquieting. The table below illustrates a state of affairs far worse than in any EU Member State - in the employment services institutions of the current Member States, there is an average of approximately 300 unemployed persons for one placement worker.
| . | 2000 | 2002 |
| No. of unemployed people per placement worker in district labour offices | 1,637 | 2,358 |
| No. of unemployed people per vocational counsellor in district labour offices | 5,665 | 7,101 |
Source: Labour Market Department, Ministry of the Economy, Labour, and Social Policy.
The administrative reform of 2000 has resulted not only in the breaking of vertical ties (ie between employment services at the various levels), but also in a significant fraying of the horizontal ties between social aid and social security policy on the one hand and labour market policy on the other. There is no institutional framework for cooperation between social aid centres and labour offices. In practice, such cooperation does take place, but it relies entirely on the goodwill and organisational acumen of the relevant officials in a given district.
The current state of the employment services has drawn much criticism from the trade unions, which have been demanding a return to the centralised system operated by the National Labour Office. The government, meanwhile, opposes any return to the status quo ante; it favours an intermediate solution which would give it broader powers and enforcement instruments while essentially keeping the new system in place. The Ministry of the Economy, Labour, and Social Policy has stated in this respect that, without such instruments, it will be unable to adapt Poland’s labour market institutions to EU standards and requirements, to implement the EU European employment strategy, or to guarantee constructive use of European Social Fund resources.
Proposals for change
In August 2003, the cabinet adopted a document setting out the basic premises for a legislative Act regarding employment promotion and labour market institutions, and the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Social Policy drafted the relevant item of legislation. The proposed Act provides for a series of new solutions. It defines the concept of public employment services as a system of labour offices at district and regional level, instituted by the authorities at these levels but supervised not only by them, but also by the Ministry responsible for labour affairs. Much emphasis is placed on the point that it will be the minister responsible for labour matters who will oversee the operating methods of the labour offices, their use of policy instruments and their overall effectiveness. Clear procedures governing the cooperation of Polish employment services with their counterparts in the European Economic Area countries will be implemented. Thus, while employment services will remain within the ambit of the local and regional government, control will be exercised by the central administration by way of direct steering instruments (to some extent) and of oversight functions.
The draft legislation also refers to binding standards of professional qualification for people employed as labour intermediation/placement workers, vocational counsellors, advisors for international contacts etc. Under the proposals, these professions would be licensed by the Ministry. In order to obtain such a licence, candidates will have to undergo training and, in some cases, serve internships. Competition-based recruitment and a six-year period in office are provided for. It is hoped that, in this way, stability of the employment services’ operation and their independence from political influences at the local level can be achieved. It is also suggested that labour intermediation/placement workers, vocational counsellors and other key personnel be eligible for bonuses - the award of such additional benefits and their amounts would depend on the quality of the employees' work, and payments would be covered by the Labour Fund (Fundusz Pracy) (PL0212106F) rather than local budgets.
Another objective of the proposed reform is that the minister responsible for labour affairs, disposing of instruments enabling influence to be exerted on the labour office system, can formulate and implement National Action Plans for employment in line with the European employment strategy. The objectives and indicators specified in such plans would provide the basis for distribution of Labour Fund resources among regions and districts.
Commentary
The fate of the employment services in the context of the administrative decentralisation provide an example of 'rational institutionalisation' in Polish administrative structures. A period of centralisation was followed by an extreme reaction in the form of complete decentralisation, which not only brought a certain amount of pathological dysfunction, but also impeded the realisation of government programmes for employment activation, as well as severing horizontal ties between the employment and social aid services. In reaction to these developments, the trade unions have called for a complete rejection of decentralisation and a reversion to the hierarchical system inherited from the old command economy. The government has countered with a concept which, while persevering with the basic logic of decentralisation, seeks to place some limitations on local autonomy and to reclaim influence over some key decision-making areas. The government position is supported by references to the obligations brought by Poland’s imminent accession to the EU - without some curbing of the local structures’ far-reaching freedoms, no implementation of European solutions will be possible. (Juliusz Gardawski, Warsawhool of Economics [Szkoła Główna Handlowa, SGH] and Institute of Public Affairs [Instytut Spraw Publicznych, ISP])
Eurofound rekommenderar att denna publikation citeras enligt följande.
Eurofound (2003), Government proposes reform of employment services, article.
