Government seeks to double the number of bureaucrats running labor offices

The Economy Ministry is planning to almost double employment in voivodship labor offices (WUP) and poviat labor offices (PUP). Standards concerning these services are a part of the bill on promoting employment in rural areas, which should be ready by September. PUP currently employs almost 16,200 and, "It would be good if the figure increased to 27,000 within a few years. This would positively affect the quality of services," said Zdzisław Sadowski, an adviser to the economy minister. He added that this will positively affect the "unemployment index", in other words the number of people without work per employee of the state office. Currently this rate stands at 200 employees per official, while in 'old' EU it amounts to 50-60. According to Sadowski, Poland should get close to this number by 2010. (Parkiet, p. 8) M.M.