Bibliogr. s. 115-117

The issue of employment seems particularly important in view of the changes occurring in the current economy. International competition and technical progress destroy currently relatively stable and well-paid jobs in industry, but instead create jobs in services. Despite the increase in productivity in the global perspective, and the creation of new jobs, the latter are usually unstable and not as well-paid. Hence the expansion of subsidised employment seems to be an action more conducive to resolving difficult social issues than the current expansion of the welfare sphere. Quite recently still, in line with the theory of compensation (or job readsorption), economists believed that the market mechanism effectively cushions the effects of technological changes, creating at least as many new jobs as it eliminated3. It seems, however, that this mechanism gradually stops working, the increase in productivity of highly qualified work acts to the detriment of the workforce with medium and low qualifications, decreasing their share in the national income, and partly also eliminating them from the labour market (cf. Acemoglu, Autor, 2012). Many people who belong to these groups, not being able to find employment, become marginalised to the sphere of those living on welfare. In this context, it is worthy of consideration whether social cooperatives, receiving constant, and not temporary subsidies or occasional support from public institutions, could become the foundation of a Polish ELR programme, eventually contributing to permanent reduction of unemployment among the weakest groups on the labour market. This idea can be deemed bold, but is this not precisely what we need in the face of the occurring changes?