Labor Minister criticized for retiree employment proposal

The Labor Ministry's proposal to curb employment of retirees for the benefit of recent graduates was heatedly debated at yesterday's Tri-partisan Commission. According to Labor Minister Jerzy Hausner, employing pensioners is profitable for companies as they do not have to pay social security contributions. "In times of such high unemployment can we not see that 1.1 million retirees who receive their pensions are earning extra money?" asked Hausner. The Labor Ministry's idea was criticized by Andrzej Sadowski, President of the Adam Smith Center. "[This] proves that the government does not have a strategy to solve the unemployment problem," said Sadowski. "The government does not propose cuts to labor costs although they claim that this is one of the factors which caused unemployment. We cannot think that by depriving pensioners of their jobs we will provide jobs to recent graduates." (Rzeczpospolita, p. A4) A.Z.