– I run a shelter for homeless people. Younger and younger people come to us – said Ruslan Oniszczuk from Monar in the “Tak jest” program on TVN24. This is how he commented on the results of the latest report on poverty in Poland. According to Piotr Ikonowicz, a social activist and lawyer, reading the study leads to the conclusion that “work does not free people from poverty.”
The latest EAPN Polska (Poverty Watch) report on poverty showed that in 2023, almost every fifteenth Pole lived in extreme poverty, and almost half of the society struggled with various forms of exclusion.
The total extent of extreme poverty increased from approximately 1.7 million people in 2022 to 2.5 million in 2023. The last time such a level of extreme poverty was recorded was in 2015. The situation has worsened for families with children, seniors and people with disabilities.
The EAPN report highlights that extreme poverty occurs when household expenses are below the subsistence level. Last year it was estimated at PLN 913 for a single person and PLN 2,465 for a family of four with two children. Living in such a situation for more than two months poses a threat to your physical health.
“More and more younger people come to us”
In “Tak jest”, Piotr Ikonowicz, a social activist and lawyer, and Ruslan Oniszczuk, a psychologist and addiction therapy specialist working in Monar, talked about the scale of extreme poverty.
– I run a shelter for homeless people and in the last two or three years we have seen how the client has changed. Younger and younger people come to us, said Oniszczuk.
– If it used to be a 55-plus customer, now there are often situations where these are people in their twenties and thirties. What is also very disturbing is that they are affected not only by the problem of homelessness, but also by various types of addictions. The mental condition of our society is also rapidly declining, which is also one of the reasons (for homelessness – ed.). (…) I see more and more of our clients – he added, pointing out that in the past it was possible to get to an aid facility “on the go”, but today you sometimes have to wait for months.
Piotr Ikonowicz pointed out that these studies “found something very important – that poverty is not associated with not working.”
– This is an easy explanation: we don't have to worry about the poor, because they are lazy. Well, it turned out that 46 percent of Poles suffer from poverty and the same number of working Poles suffer from poverty. This means that work does not free you from poverty. Moreover, poor people usually work more because they have a lower hourly wage. When talking about the hourly rate, I want to talk about the pathology of the labor market, because they are increased in law, not in reality. Poland is the only country where the labor inspection is obliged to give advance notice of inspections. This means there is no labor inspection – noted the TVN24 guest.
As Piotr Ikonowicz said, “the minimum wage act is bypassed in various ways, and one of them is the so-called part-time job, which means that the minimum wage act is bypassed, and these people work full-time anyway.” “.
– Various circles of hell, which is the exploitation of employees, mean that, on the one hand, employees do not get rich at the same rate as the economy grows, but employers, a significant part of them, get rich faster, and all studies on stratification show that a group people are the highest paid running a business – he said.
Ruslan Onishchuk pointed out that solving the problem of poverty “needs a more systemic approach.” – Aid programs are supposed to be integrated and all aid institutions should cooperate, but this is not the case – he said.
Piotr Ikonowicz assessed that “the solution is simple (…) we need to reintroduce labor law.” – For many terms, successive governments have observed whether they acted in such a way that the number of labor chambers in courts decreased. This means that people had to wait longer and longer for a trial in the labor court and travel further and further. This makes labor law illusory, Ikonowicz pointed out.
The Ministry comments
The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy wrote in a comment on the research results that “a record PLN 170 billion, which was secured for social policy in the 2025 budget, will be helpful in the fight against the high level of poverty.”
The ministry also pointed to a 47% increase in spending on family support benefits. This includes, among others: increased expenses for the Family program 800 pluscare services, support services, benefits under the “Active Parent” program.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy reminded that from January 1, 2025, they will be increased income criteria in social assistance. They will amount to PLN 1,010 for single people (i.e. increase by 30%), while for a person in a family the criterion will amount to PLN 823 (i.e. increase by 37%). This will result in an increase in the amounts of benefits related to social assistance, including: monetary assistance for independence will increase (from PLN 1,837 to PLN 2,066) and the maximum permanent benefit (from PLN 1,000 to PLN 1,229).
The ministry also pointed to a number of other aid programs intended to help the poorest, including: “School Meal”, “75 Plus Care”, “Senior Support Corps”, “Overcoming Homelessness” program.
Last week, prof. Ryszard Szarfenberg from the Polish Committee of the European Anti-Poverty Network told PAP that the main reason for the increase in extreme poverty in Poland was the record-breaking inflation and the lack of an adequate state response to protect the poorest.
He emphasized that both the 800 plus benefit and family allowances should be indexed annually, in line with the inflation rate.
According to Szarfenberg, the lack of indexation of these benefits will weaken the protection of families against poverty. – If the government decides to increase these benefits only before the 2027 elections, it will be too late again – said the expert.
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