Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Figure 10: Employment rates of older Polish males, 1992-2006
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
50-54-year-olds 55-59-year-olds 60-64-year-olds 65-year-olds and older
Source: OECD.
That has not been the case with regard to older women (Fig. 11). Open unemployment,
which appeared for the first time in 1989 and continued rising afterwards (see previous
section) is the obvious explanation of decreasing employment rates of both sexes. Another
explanation is the falling demand for unqualified labour (Perek-Białas/Ruzik 2004b: 431).
The transformation was especially detrimental to women – in June 1991, there were nine
men and 45 women for every vacancy. The reasons lay in the end of excess labour demand
of previous decades, when „women were absorbed into many activities where men are
usually preferred by managers” (Góra et al. 1993: 148).
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