The “Family 500+” programme versus the economic activity of women in Poland

Abstract

The “Family 500+” programme was introduced by the Act on State Aid for Child Support. It differs from many other public programmes in that it has deeply penetrated the general awareness of Poles, which may result from the amount of the benefit, its simplicity, media coverage and the feeling that this policy directly affects people’s lives. There are comments about the impact of the programme on the condition of the labour market. It is believed that to some extent it discourages some women from taking up work, thereby potentially causing their economic activity to decline and unemployment to increase over the longer time frame. Undoubtedly, “Family 500+” is already a very large challenge for the state budget. It is highly probable that the huge funding needed to cover benefits will grow each year, constituting an important government transfer. The goal of the paper is to depict the relationship between “Family 500+” and the economic activity of women in Poland. This study is a research exercise. Quantitative methods were used, including: logistic regression modelling and Holt forecasting. The analysis suggests the conclusion that “Family 500+” has contributed to the reduction of extreme poverty in households with children but also has affected the economic activity of women in Poland, in particular younger ones, aged 25–34 years, who have low educational attainments and live in poorer voivodships. The analysis of micro data from the Human Capital Balance study has clearly confirmed that “Family 500+” negatively affects the likelihood of being economically active, which holds true not only for women at a certain age or of a certain background, but for all those surveyed.