The Economics of Inclusion / National / 🇵🇱 Poland
Original title: Raport. Absencja chorobowa w 2025 r.
Annual report by Poland's Social Insurance Institution (ZUS, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Forecasts, 2026). Total spending on sickness absence reached PLN 34.9bn in 2025, up 12.4% on 2024. The Social Insurance Fund paid PLN 20.7bn in sickness benefits (59.4% of the total); employers and the guaranteed-benefits fund paid the rest.
Original title: Jak zwiększyć zatrudnienie osób niepełnosprawnych w Polsce?
IBS commentary (April 2023) by Agata Rozszczypała summarising IBS research on EU-27 data for people aged 25-34. Higher education raises disabled people's employment chances by over 20 points (under 9 for others); the education gap explains 20% of the disability employment gap in the EU and 27% in Poland, where closing it could lift the employment rate from 29% to 43%.
Original title: Wydatki na świadczenia z ubezpieczeń społecznych związane z niezdolnością do pracy w 2024 r.
Annual report from ZUS, Poland's Social Insurance Institution (Department of Statistics and Actuarial Forecasts, 2025). It covers spending on incapacity pensions, social pensions, sickness absence and rehabilitation benefits. In 2024 this spending exceeded PLN 57 billion (1.6% of GDP), up 16.7% on 2023. Mental and behavioural disorders were the costliest diagnosis group, at 17.7% of the total.