- The common denominator of the activities of the Visegrad Group and each country individually was the strong intervention of the state to support saving jobs after the pandemic – said Minister Marlena Maląg after the meeting of the Ministers of Labour of the V4 countries.

Labour market after the pandemic

The meeting has been divided into two panels. The first: „Post-Covid Syndrome in the labour market” discussed which groups and how, from an employment point of view, have been most affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The Ministers also informed about the policies pursued by their governments to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic, as well as to increase employment and revive the economy.

Minister Maląg stated that in Poland more than PLN 200 billion had been transferred for the purpose of saving jobs, which allowed to save more than 8 million of them. The fact that these funds have been well invested is the unemployment rate, which is currently 5.6%, and according to Eurostat figures – 3.4%.

She also stressed that throughout that difficult time, social programmes, which were an anti-crisis shield for families with small children or seniors, were not limited in any way.

COVID-19 has accelerated digitisation

The second panel was devoted to discussing the legislative and political work in the European Union as part of the Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights. The issues related to remote work and digitisation were raised.

– In Poland, we are introducing remote work permanently into the Labour Code, we have already closed the dialogue with employers and the public so as to develop satisfactory solutions being good for everyone – said Minister Maląg. She also pointed out that the pandemic had accelerated digitisation processes in the economy and administration. Already this year, parents submitted applications for benefits from the „Good Start” programme by electronic means only, and these benefits were paid only to bank accounts, while from 1 January 2022 the situation regarding the benefit from the „Family 500+” programme will be similar.

The participants wondered what the effects of the current proposals of the EU employment policy on labour mobility in our region could be. The scope of cooperation between the European Labour Office and the Member States was also discussed.

Minister Maląg also noted that it was also very important to take into account the situation of a given country when determining the minimum salary.

Joint Declaration by Ministers

After the meeting, the V4 Ministers of Labour signed a Joint Declaration summarising the debate. In this Declaration, they committed themselves to observe the principles laid down in the European Pillar of Social Rights. They stressed the importance of a fast conclusion of negotiations regarding operational programmes and of a possibility of using the funds as soon as possible.

- We are of opinion that the current establishment of the European Labour Authority (ELA) is an important initiative – they wrote in the Declaration, reserving a need to avoid any unnecessary additional administrative burden as well as duplication of work carried out by other specialised authorities.