At its meeting on 19 March this year, the Council of Ministers adopted a draft law on amending the Act on social assistance and certain other acts submitted by the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy. In this way, the Government intends to enable the introduction of programmes that will subsidise the salaries of, inter alia, employees working in social welfare units with a gross amount of PLN 1,000.

On Thursday, 14 March, the second meeting of the 'Coalition for Prematurity', a team for improving the situation for parents of premature babies and children hospitalised after birth, took place at the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk presented to the public the proposed solutions to be found in the draft law under preparation.

It pained me a lot that in recent years the social dialogue was practically non-existent. We have experts among our citizens, there are so many wise voices in the public space, and politicians were approving plans in secret, overnight, against the people. I believe that those times are a thing of the past, said Łukasz Krasoń, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Government Plenipotentiary for Persons with Disabilities, when opening the first meeting of the National Consultative Council after the parliamentary elections.

At Monday's (11.03) meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in Brussels, the Directive on improving working conditions in platform work has been adopted. I am very pleased that this compromise has been reached. This is an important and necessary Directive. It is very good news for the millions of people working via digital labour platforms in the European Union, points out Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, head of the Ministry of the Family, Labour and Social Policy.

The registered unemployment rate at the end of February 2024, estimated by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy (MRPiPS), calculated on the basis of preliminary data on the number of unemployed, was 5.4% and is lower than the unemployment rate a year ago (i.e. at the end of February 2023) by 0.2%. The lower unemployment rate in February was last recorded in 1990.

Among the priority initiatives of the Ministry of Family, Labour, and Social Policy is the development of a law on public employment services, as highlighted by Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk during the inaugural meeting of the Social Dialogue Council with the participation of the new ministry heads. The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy was also represented by Deputy Minister Sebastian Gajewski and Director General Liwiusz Laska.

On 15 February, the team initiated work at the Ministry of Family, Labour, and Social Policy to formulate solutions regarding parental entitlements for parents of prematurely born babies and those hospitalized after birth. This action fulfils a commitment made by Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk to the public.

The registered unemployment rate at the end of January 2024, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, stood at 5.4 percent. This is 0.1 percentage points lower than the unemployment rate recorded a year ago, at the end of January 2023. Thus, the beginning of this year appears to be more favourable in this regard compared to the beginning of last year.

On February 9th, the Central Statistical Office announced data regarding the real growth of the average salary in 2023. This statistic serves as one of the components used in the formula for calculating the indexation indicator for pensions. In 2024, the indicator will be 112.12 per cent.

On 1 February this year, the call for applications under the Family 800+ programme for the new benefit period started. Who is entitled to the child-support benefit? Where and how to make an application? We answer the frequently asked questions.