Lower minimum wage for graduates backed as measure against unemployment

Employers and economists are pushing for the introduction of legislation that would lower the minimum wage for university graduates and others with less work experience in a bid to reduce Poland's high unemployment rate, which is hovering around 15%. While minimum salaries are now set at zl.760 per month, Wojciech Kornowski of the Polish Economic Union (PUG) says the government should introduce two minimum wages, one for those with less experience, set at zl.500 per month, and the current wage, which would be reserved for seasoned workers only. Apart from battling the high jobless rate, he cited inexperienced employees' need to work some six months to a year to learn the ropes of their trade as further reason for the regulation. Conversely, Tomasz Uchman of the Business Center Club says only a reduction in taxes coupled with Labor Code liberalization would help create more jobs. (Życie, p.1,3) A.Z.