Marlena Maląg, minister for labour, family and social policy, told public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency that protecting jobs was a top priority for Poland’s conservative government in the time of the coronavirus pandemic.
Polish lawmakers at the end of last month backed a plan to expand a multibillion package of measures aiming to protect jobs and businesses from the coronavirus pandemic.
Poland’s president at the start of this month outlined a plan for more aid to the unemployed, including a special allowance for workers who lose their jobs due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Maląg last week estimated that unemployment in Poland rose to around 5.7 percent in April, with the number of jobless nationwide increasing by around 58,000 to 960,000.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Development Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz said on Saturday that about 1 million Ukrainian workers left Poland at the start of the pandemic, “creating about a million job openings."
Emilewicz last month warned that the number of unemployed throughout the country could surge to 1.5 million by the end of this year, with the jobless rate soaring to “somewhere around 9 or 10 percent” due to the COVID-19 crisis.
One in four employees surveyed in Poland earlier this spring by human resources firm Randstad said they were afraid of losing their job because of the coronavirus disruption.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR