Let us begin with looking at periodical data published by the Statistics Poland, measuring the unemployment level or the number of working Poles. At the end of 2018 the unemployment rate amounted to 5.8 percent, and there was a record number of working persons – over 16.6 million.

In January the employment rates slightly went up; in compliance with the data published by the Statistics Poland, the unemployment increased by 0.3 percentage points and in the first month of the new year amounted to 6.1 percent. However, it is worth remembering that last time such a low level of the unemployment in January was noted 28 years ago.

With current, record low levels of the unemployment rate, consecutive drops will be more and more difficult to obtain due to approaching the level of the natural unemployment rate – says the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Elżbieta Rafalska and reminds that in compliance with the assumptions of the draft of the state budget for the year 2019, at the end of the current year the unemployment rate will amount to 5.6 percent. Internal analyses of our Ministry indicate that at the end of this year the unemployment rate can be even lower and amount to 5.5 percent, with a seasonal decrease in the summer time by approx. 5.3 percent. 

In this situation it is crucial to reach for the hitherto unused labour market resources – the long-term unemployed and professionally passive persons. The Ministry of Family focuses its attention on those issues. Professional activation of persons with disabilities remains a challenge.

Persons with disabilities in the labour market

In 2017, 3.1 million of persons with disabilities at the age of over 16 lived in Poland. The number of persons with disabilities at the working age amounted to 1.68 million, which constituted 7.7 percent of people in Poland at any age.

If we look at the professional activity rate of persons with disabilities (at the working age), in 2017 it amounted to 28.9 percent. Whereas, the employment rate amounted to 26.3 percent and the unemployment rate – 9.3 percent.

In each case we talk about an improvement in comparison with the results noted at the end of 2016. Nevertheless, in fact, the positive trend in the scope of economic activity of the persons with disabilities has been observed for a decade.

Between the years 2008 and 2017, the professional activity rate of persons with disabilities at the working age increased by 4.7 percentage points, the employment rate by 5.2 percentage points, and the unemployment rate dropped by 3.7 percentage points.

Better and better, but not perfect

The situation is better and better, but not perfect - only every sixth person with disability aged 16 and over (to a large extent it results from the over-representation of older persons in this group) and every third person with disability at working age are professionally active.

Differences between professional activity of the non-disabled and the disabled remain significant. In 2017, the professional activity rate of the non-disabled at the working age (in Statistics Poland terms, i.e. 18-59 for women and 18-64 for men) amounted to 79.8 percent, the employment rate – 75.9 percent and the unemployment rate – 4.9 percent.

Therefore, the difference between the employment rate of the non-disabled and the disabled at the working age amounted to 49.6 percentage points and between the unemployment rates of those two groups – 4.4 percentage points.

The good news is that the positive changes in the economic activity of the disabled that had been noted in 2017, were also observed last year. Both, the professional activity rate of persons with disabilities, as well as the employment rate achieved values that had not been noted so far - says Krzysztof Michałkiewicz, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.

Vice Minister Michałkiewicz refers the data from the Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics Poland. It implies that in the third quarter of the last year, the professional activity rate of persons with disabilities at the working age amounted to 30.2 percent, the employment rate amounted to 28.2 percent and the unemployment rate of those persons – 6.8 percent.

Support instruments

At this point it is worth mentioning the support instruments that are to support employment of persons with disabilities and which function on the grounds of the act on professional and social rehabilitation and on the employment of persons with disabilities. The main aim thereof is to equal opportunities and enable persons with disabilities to find a permanent and satisfactory employment and thus, counteracting discrimination of such persons in the labour market.

Instruments of professional activation of persons with disabilities are divided into directly addressed at those persons, as well as addressed at employers and employing entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs interested in employing them.

In the first case we talk, among others, of the opportunity to undertake trainings, apprenticeships, adult professional qualifications, intervention works, post graduate studies, trainings on the grounds of tripartite training agreements conducted between the starost, the employer and the training institution, an occupation voucher, a training voucher, an apprenticeship voucher.

Persons with disabilities interested in starting own company (or already conducting business activity) can use the support in a form of single funds to start a business or agricultural activity, or making a contribution to a social cooperative, financing (up to 50 percent) of interests on the bank loan taken to continue this activity, or a refund of contributions to social insurance for persons with disabilities conducting business or agricultural activity.

Whereas, instruments supporting employers include:

• monthly financing to the remuneration of an employee with disabilities - the employer is entitled to monthly financing to the remuneration of an employee with disabilities classified as severe, moderate and mild level of disability from the State Fund For Rehabilitation Of Disabled People, in the amount of: PLN 1,800, PLN 1,125 and PLN 450, respectively. Those amounts are increased by PLN 600 in the case of persons with disabilities with regard to whom a mental illness, mental handicap, pervasive developmental disorder or epilepsy has been stated, as well as the blind;
• reimbursement of the expenditures related to adjusting workstations and facilities at the workplace to the needs of an employee with disabilities, as well as the costs of adaptation or purchasing devices facilitating performance of work or functioning at the workplace by a person with disabilities, as well as purchasing and authorisation of the software to be used by employees with disabilities and technological devices supporting or adjusted to the needs resulting from their disability;
• reimbursement of costs incurred on equipping the workstation of a person with disabilities up to the amount of five times the average remuneration;
• reimbursement of costs incurred on training an employee with disabilities;
• reimbursement of monthly costs of employing employees helping an employee with disabilities in work and training of the supporting employee;
• exemption from contributions to the State Fund For Rehabilitation Of Disabled People.

Challenge

Nevertheless, professional activation of persons with disabilities remains a challenge. It (the activation) is supported with dedicated programmes.

• “Graduate” Programme – supports persons with disabilities in planning and implementing an individual career path and helps in improving professional qualifications.
• “Stable employment” programme – assumes, among others, adaptation of facilities and environment of the workplace to the needs of persons with disabilities, equipment of workstations (respectively to the needs resulting from disability and the character of employment), adaptation or purchasing devices facilitating performance of work or functioning in a work place, or trainings.
• “Work-integration” programme – assumes, among others, eliminating barriers hindering undertaking employment at a potential employer (including, among others, purchasing equipment and technical devices, employing an assistant or a job coach, commuting).

Finance

The State Fund For Rehabilitation Of Disabled People plans to spend in total 35.3 million zloty on only three programmes (13.2 million zloty on the “Graduate” programme, 14.1 million zloty on the “Stable employment” programme and 8 million zloty on the “Work-integration” programme).

While discussing finance, it should be mentioned that in 2017 the amount allocated to financing remunerations of employees with disabilities amounted to 3.2 billion zloty. Half of those funds was allocated to supported employment enterprises and half to companies operating in the so-called open market. 2.4 billion zloty was allocated to financing to remunerations of employees with moderate disability, whereas approx. 0.4 billion zloty was allocated to employees with mild and severe disability, respectively.

While, in the previous year the amount of financing costs of annual stay of one participant in an occupational therapy workshop and one employee with disability in an establishment of professional activity, was increased.

• In case of participating in occupational therapy workshops the financing was increased to 16,596 zloty in 2018. In this year the financing will amount to 17,796 zloty and in 2020 and consecutive years – 18,996 zloty;
• whereas, financing an annual stay of one employee with disability in an establishment of professional activity was increased to 22 thousand zloty.

Increasing the financing is to influence an improvement of functioning of both, occupational therapy workshops and establishments of professional activity.

Plans

What will the year 2019 bring? The Ministry is working on a bill on supported employment. New provisions respond to the necessity to provide special support to the groups of persons with disabilities, who have the biggest difficulties in finding, starting and maintaining employment independently.

Supported employment is to be a form of professional activation, which will supplement the hitherto existing solutions in the scope of professional rehabilitation. It assumes a job coach’s individual work with a person with disability, with their maximum inclusion in the whole decision making process regarding employment. It is to be conducted in cooperation with employers, labour market institutions and entities performing tasks in the scope of professional and social rehabilitation of persons with disabilities – explains the Vice Minister, Krzysztof Michałkiewicz, who is the government plenipotentiary for persons with disabilities.

The Ministry will also soon start implementation of two projects for social and professional inclusion of persons with disabilities (within measure 2.6 of the Operational Programme Knowledge, Education, Development).

Furthermore, the Ministry of Family finalises works on the Strategy for Persons with Disabilities, which is the first in Poland. It will be implemented through measures undertaken within many areas, among others, the health, education, social security and labour market. It will allow stipulating complex frameworks for the national policy for persons with disabilities. It will be compliant with the assumptions of the Strategy for the Responsible Development and, at the same time, include provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and ensure providing full participation of those persons in social and professional life.