Higher revenues from employers' social contributions

So far this year, PLN 17 billion (EUR 4 billion) has been paid to ZUS by employers using individually assigned account numbers, which, according to PAP, is a 10 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

As part of a minor yet much-needed reform, ZUS restructured the way Polish companies and self-employed people pay mandatory social contributions, assigning an individual bank account number to each payer.

Starting from 2018, Polish employers make a joint bank transfer to their individual ZUS account instead of carrying out three or four online transactions.

At a Wednesday press conference Labour Minister Elżbieta Rafalska explained that the hike in revenues from social security contributions is the result of a low unemployment rate and a firming job market along with rising wages.

The conference also addressed the effects of a contentious retirement reform, introduced by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party last year. Under the new rules women are able to retire at 60 and men at 65, reversing a 2012 law setting the statutory retirement age at 67 for all Poles.

ZUS chief Gertruda Uścińska said on Wednesday that, according to new estimates, the financial cost of the 2017 reform will be PLN 200 million (EUR 48 million) lower than initially expected.

Rafalska told the conference that "any discussion on the [reform’s] effects on the labour market is absolutely premature," while the financial consequences have not been more adverse than forecast.

Source: PAP

(ał/vb)