Active Ageing Policies in Employment in Poland

The debate on active ageing in employment in Poland started relatively late. The first discussions on the unfavourable situation of elderly employment emerged only in the second half of the 1990s, when the debate on pension system reform started. While only a few ageing policies were developed at the national level during that time, several interesting initiatives were undertaken at a regional level and in the third sector. They mostly focused on productive ageing and the problems associated with the economic activation of people over 50. The intensive implementation of active ageing policies in Poland started in 2012, during the European Year of Active Ageing. At present, there is an intense discussion on policies which are addressed to the elderly, which concentrate not only on the activation of the labour market, but also on healthy, active and socially inclusive ageing, education and civil engagement.

The aim of the MOPACT working paper, prepared by Izabela Styczynska, is to gather evidence on the active ageing policies implemented in Poland during the last decade in one comprehensive and easy-accessible way. Several national documents of strategic character were analysed and the main results of the national initiatives were presented. The paper serves as a starting point for the in-depth evaluation of policies related to the elderly.  

Results of the paper show that despite intense work being done recently by public authorities, the concept of active ageing in employment still needs a deeper implementation especially at regional levels. Furthermore, close observation and evaluation of the activation programmes is still missing and the identification and implementation of good practices which are already being developed in other European countries is under-used.

You can download the publication here.