Are self-employed “zombies” more important than classic workers? A few comments on the Polish approach to supporting labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic

download PDF


Abstract

The paper discusses the nature of the support received by self-employed persons (and those who are parties to so-called civil law contracts) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. The authors point out that the benefit received by such people, the so-called “standstill benefit” (s´wiadczenie postojowe) was higher than unemployment benefits. This may raise serious doubts both ethically and from the point of view of the rationality of the functioning of the socio-economic system. In the authors’ opinion, this is due to the blind adherence of successive governments in Poland to the idea of entrepreneurship as a solution to all possible problems and challenges in the labour market..