Welfare and the Labor Market in Poland Social Policy during Economic Transition

by Rutkowski, Jan

• ISBN13: 9780821343180
• ISBN10: 0821343181
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: World Bank Publications

Summary

This report assesses the changes in social welfare and policy that have taken place in Poland during the economic transition. It tests the main hypotheses concerning changes in the role of the welfare state, workings of the labor market, the distributional consequences of transition, and more generally about the winners and losers in transition. Chapter one examines trends in social expenditure during economic transition. Chapter two focuses on changes in the labor market, including emerging risks and opportunities. Chapter three explores distributional consequences of transition.

Table of Contents

Forward	vii	(1)
Abstract	viii
Acknowledgments	iv
Executive Summary	x
Introduction	1	(4)
Chapter 1: The Withering Away of the Welfare State? Trends in Social Expenditure during Economic Transition	5	(12)
The inheritance	5	(2)
Size of the government	7	(1)
Trends in social expenditures	8	(4)
Determinants of social expenditure growth	12	(1)
Pension spending	13	(3)
Summary	16	(1)
Chapter 2: Changes in the Labor Market: Emerging Risks and Opportunities	17	(30)
Introduction: the emergence of labor markets	17	(1)
Employment opportunities and the risk of unemployment	18	(8)
Education, skills and unemployment	18	(4)
Policy response to unemployment	22	(4)
Changes in the wage structure	26	(15)
Rising wage differentials	26	(6)
Wage developments in the private sector	32	(3)
Changing returns to labor market skills	35	(6)
Labor market transition: an assessment	41	(4)
Summary	45	(2)
Chapter 3: Distributional Consequences of Transition: The New Rich and the New Poor	47	(32)
Income inequality	48	(9)
Income composition	48	(1)
Relative incomes	49	(3)
Overall income inequality	52	(2)
Within group inequality	54	(1)
Conclusions on income inequality	55	(2)
Poverty and prosperity	57	(7)
Social mobility: in and out of poverty	57	(4)
Poverty and the economic growth	61	(1)
Can the poor benefit from the trickle down of economic growth?	62	(2)
Conclusions on poverty and prosperity	64	(1)
Inequality, poverty and the policy response	64	(5)
Income distribution in Poland vis-a-vis OECD countries	69	(8)
Income inequality in Poland and in OECD countries	69	(4)
The role and distribution of social transfers	73	(4)
Summary	77	(2)
References	79	(4)
Statistical Annexes	83
Annex 1. Data for figures in chapter 1	84	(2)
Annex 2. Data for figures in chapter 2	86	(5)
Annex 3. Data for figures in chapter 3	91