Do Poles use their potential?
The skills and potential of every 6th person aged 20-34 in Poland remains unused – said the Polish The Economic Institute. According to analysts, the largest number of people not working and not educated in the EU is in the south of Europe; Poland is in the middle of the pack.
As PIE pointed out, indicators illustrating the state and foundations of human capital development in Poland „give reasons for optimism”. „However, the percentage of people who include the NEET category (i.e. people who are not working, not learning and do not participate in education in any way) shows systemic problems on an EU-wide scale” – noted in the latest edition of the „PIE Economic Weekly”.
Analysts referred to the statistics of the Central Statistical Office, which show that in 2019 there were 57,000 more people working in Poland in 2019 than in 2016. and the percentage of such people in the country has been steadily declining since 2013. „Still, the number of people that this category includes is large,” it said.
The number of people professionally involved in research and development activities has also increased significantly. In 2016, almost 214,000 employees were associated with R&D activities, and in 2019 it was over 270,000 – this means an increase of 27%. „These data indicate a dynamically increasing demand for highly qualified employees from the economy” – it was indicated.
Analysts explained that employment in R&D indicates supply and demand in the economy for highly qualified people, and the NEET index for untapped human potential. According to Eurostat data cited in the PIE publication, in 2013 the percentage of people aged 20-34 covered by this category in Poland was 20.9 percent, and in 2020 it was 16.7 percent (more by 0.6 percentage points than in 2019).
It was pointed out that the largest number of people not working and not educated in the EU is in the south of Europe (Italy, Greece and Spain), where this indicator exceeds 20%. On the other side are the countries of northern and central Europe (the Netherlands, Sweden and Luxembourg) – where the indicator does not exceed 10 percent. It was added that almost every third Italian/Italian and every fifth Hungarian/Hungarian aged 20-34 do not work, learn and do not educate – not only do they not use their skills, but also do not acquire new ones and at the same time lose those already acquired.
Experts noted that the situation in Italy, for example, is worse than in 2019 (then the neetta percentage was 27.8 percent), but it is better than in 2013-2015, in which this indicator oscillated around 32 percent. „A record high percentage in this decade in 2012 was recorded by the Czech Republic (18.7 percent) and France (19.1 percent), in 2013. Greece (36.7%), and in 2014 The Netherlands (11 per cent)” – indicated. According to analysts, despite the good economic situation in recent years and the improvement of the situation, the percentage of NEETs has not decreased dramatically, which indicates „systemic and structural sources of the problem”.
In the opinion of PIE, these data give reasons for optimism – growing employment in R&D may indicate the modernization of the Polish economy, while the decreasing percentage of NEETs may indicate an improvement in the situation in the development and use of skills of young people.
„It doesn’t change (…) the fact that still the skills and potential of every 6th young person (aged 20-34) in Poland remains unused” – it was noted. Analysts admitted that among the so-called NEETs there are m.in people with disabilities who cannot take up professional activity, or, for example, parents who have devoted themselves to raising children. „Despite these reservations, this percentage is high, despite the favorable economic situation” – they noted. They added that the professional activity of young people has also been significantly limited by the pandemic.
In the opinion of experts, the consequences of leaving these people as unused „will be not only economic, as lost economic potential, but also social and political.”
Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.
