DoRzeczy.pl: The latest increase in the minimum wage prepared by the Government of Law and Justice will come into force after the New Year. The last eight years have seen a dynamic increase in your governments minimum wage. What effect did this have on the economy?
Zbigniew Kumyuk: There is no doubt that raising the minimum wage administratively, because the government did it, affected wage growth throughout the economy, not just the minimum wage. When the minimum wage increased, other wages increased, including the average wage, which reaches almost PLN 7,500. zloty. It was a positive process, the standard of living of Poles increased. There is no doubt that rising wages have boosted economic growth by increasing consumption. Not only wages have increased, but also pension benefits. We had a huge consumption impact on GDP growth. In eight years, despite crises, pandemics and war, GDP in Poland increased by 32%. Outside of tax havens such as Ireland, this was the highest cumulative increase in the entire EU.
However, not everyone was happy with the increase.
Of course, I also know the opinions coming from the business community that this was too heavy a burden for that community. There is no doubt that the employee is the most attractive piece of capital that any entrepreneur has. Many entrepreneurs have learned this in eight years. When we announced the road map for wage growth and consistently implemented it, there were dark visions that it would lead to mass unemployment, company closures, etc. Nothing like that happened, the labor market is still the market of employees. They are constantly actively looking for employees. This forced entrepreneurs to reach higher levels of production and service. A transition from the most primitive types of production to more and more complex, with more and more added value, to meet the demands of the labor market. This has pushed the Polish economy very strongly in a positive sense, but I understand that for many people who run businesses, the wage increase is still a shock.
What might the minimum wage issues look like in the future?
I still hope that if we want to continue to develop, we will pay people and they will not leave Poland. We are still paying a huge price for the wave of emigration from the beginning of the century. A large number of educated people stayed abroad. I positively evaluate the whole process of raising the minimum wage. I hope the Poles see it that way too. We will see how our successors will carry out this process. What will happen this year are our decisions, two increased minimum wages to PLN 3,490 gross from January 1 and PLN 3,600 gross from July 1. To be honest, I'm afraid it's going to be limited because that's how it was from 2008-2015. At that time, raising the minimum wage was not very ambitious.
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