Problems of Unemployment in Poland and some other Postcommunist Countries Arising from the Transition of a Centrally Planned to a Market Economy

Abstract

One of the results of the transformation of the former socialist economies is high levels of unemployment. This paper attempts to describe this phenomenon in some countries and show which steps have been undertaken by the governments in order to make it easier. Its worth adding that there was no experience in embracing such measures under the socialist system, because all those countries dealt at that time was underemployed labor and not its surplus. In result is that neither governments nor private citizens are accustomed to unemployment. Maybe for that reason this problem is so painful for both of them and still makes the implementation of the real changes in the economy difficult.