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Poland The Welfare System
The communist central planning system made a wide
variety of
payments to subsidize citizens in certain categories and
encourage or discourage the activities of citizens in
other
categories. By the mid-1980s, the planning labyrinth
created by
such payments was such a fiscal burden that severe cuts
were made
in some payments. Like the health system, Poland's welfare
system
underwent substantial decentralization and restructuring,
and all
parts of the system suffered from limited funding in the
transition period that began in 1989. Although a higher
percentage of the population needed welfare services
because of
high unemployment in that period, the need to reduce the
government's budget deficit caused drastic cuts in many
services.
Eventual reversal of this trend depends upon the speed
with which
Poland's economy rebounds from its transition crisis and
upon the
efficiency of the new welfare bureaucracies.
Data as of October 1992
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