According to the Central Statistical Office (GUS), approximately 17 million Poles are professionally active. This significant group can potentially determine the political success or failure of numerous parties in the upcoming elections through their voting power. Throughout the ongoing campaign, various ideas focused on employment have surfaced, many entailing significant time, financial efforts, reforms, new technologies, and labor force to fulfill. Unfortunately, numerous proposed notions may ultimately fail due to workforce shortages and migration policies.
The National Electoral Commission states that over 29 million Poles have the right to vote, with the professionally active population representing over half this electorate (approx. 59%). It is this subset that will soon cast their vote for the particular political groupings they support.
A party capable of resonating with Poles employed in the public sector, under ‘garbage’ contracts or dealing with employers failing to pay salaries on time, stands a chance of securing a significant share of votes. Salary-related issues are the most frequent complaints from employees to the National Labor Inspectorate. In 2021 alone, labor inspectors secured wages and other benefits amounting to PLN 63.8 million for 21.3 thousand people, and in 2022 this figure jumped to PLN 78 million for 52 thousand employees.
Salary raises for public sector workers could account for millions more voters – approximately 3.65 million Poles work in public administration, national defense, education, and healthcare. ‘Garbage’ contracts affect yet another million citizens in our country, as evidenced by statistics from the Central Statistical Office, which reports that around 1.35 million people work under such contracts.
Political parties also remember the importance of young professionals, whose presence within the workforce is significant. In the second quarter of this year, 946 thousand individuals aged between 15 to 24 and 3.8 million people between the ages of 25 to 34 were professionally active.
Consideration has also been given to the health of employees, a significant concern for many. In 2022, Poland registered 27 million medical certificates for temporary incapacity for work amounting to 288.8 million days in total.
However, proposed electoral measures – such as the reintroduction of Sunday trading – may not appeal to retail employees, of whom there are reportedly 2 million.
Political groups vying for electoral success in the Sejm and Senate are simultaneously courting both employers and employees. The stakes are high, given that there are 4.3 million companies and approximately 602,000 corporations in the country, and the number of people active professionally exceeds 17 million. Parties promise them wage growth, support for women returning to the labor market, reducing employment costs, subsidizing remote work, modern IT solutions that facilitate job searching for young people, easing union organization, easy wage negotiations, and fully paid sick leave (L4).
Many of these promises pertain to taxes, unemployment, and work organization. However, the issues of labor shortages and migration policies in the context of creating an international labor market in Poland are often overlooked. These two icebergs can potentially sink any party proposal presented during the election campaign.
“Electoral programs and declarations sound wonderful but their realization in the current situation is not feasible. Reducing the number of working hours in most companies is not an option, as business owners, who are already struggling with staff shortages, are having issues with timely order fulfillment or business development, which is hindered by the very lack of employees. If the current team were to work even less, this would mean downsizing for many companies,” says Cezary Maciołek, president of the Progres Group.
Although it is the last call to analyze the election programs and make a final decision, it’s a shame that in the heat of the battle, politicians have forgotten about foreigners, who are also necessary in the labor market. There are no proposals regarding migration policy, procedures related to the legalization of stay and employment, or combating the gray area, which is a problem that cannot be ignored. Especially as this issue affects many companies that employ, or want to employ, foreigners – including those from distant corners of the world. As our research shows, 56% of companies currently have this intention. However, they may feel disappointed that none of the politicians thought about how to streamline this process,” Cezary Maciolek concludes.
