Poland: Child Subsidies Encourage Births, Help Families

Less careerism, more White children and growing, healthier families will be the happy results.

POLAND’S 500+ subsidy, introduced in April and named after the monthly 500 zlotys ($126) per child it offers, is proving very popular among Polish women and families.

But Jewish groups and Cultural Marxists say it “reinforces an outdated, stereotypical image of women.”

Monika Rybicka, a 25-year-old mother of two, is a beneficiary of the 500+ subsidy: “It’s a good move by the state. They noticed us and helped us,” said Rybicka, who lives with her baby twins in social housing in the small town of Wyszkow, about 60 km (37 miles) northeast of Warsaw.

She says the additional 1,000 zlotys she receives each month, in a country were the average wage is 4,250 zlotys per month, is a “huge help” and she can now afford better things.

But Rybicka, who was unemployed before she gave birth, acknowledges the subsidy is high enough to discourage some mothers, especially those who are poorly paid or out of work, from seeking a job or returning to their former workplace.

“If you have two children and you earn 1,500 zlotys (a month) then you can quit your job, take the subsidy and stay at home,” she said.

“You can save money by staying at home. Day care is costly. So you can stay at home and maybe make some money under the table.”

“This is a double win,” one observer stated, “because 1) there will be more White children born, giving the lie to the claim that we ‘need immigrants’; and 2) the children will more likely be cared for by the one who loves and cares about them the most. The leftist position against the subsidy is completely wrong: Which is more important — raising and inculturating the next generation? — or slaving away in some office cublicle doing pointless work for an uncaring System?”

The child subsidy is meant to help 2.7 million families in the country of 38 million people which shook off Communist rule in 1989 and joined the European Union in 2004.

Economists say the subsidy will not only directly help famlies, but it is also expected to bolster the economy by fuelling consumption.

It was followed this month by another important move to boost the economy — a shake-up of the pension system which economists say will help finance welfare spending.

A report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers showed Poland offers the highest child subsidy of any central and eastern European country in the EU. But it is less than in France, which offers 130-167 euros ($144-185) per month, Ireland, which provides 135 euros, and Germany, where the subsidy is 184–215 euros.

Employers’ groups, recruiters and unemployment officials say the number of mothers from poorer families quitting their jobs has grown since the subsidy was launched.

“We estimate that as many as 200,000 to 250,000 people may leave the workforce because of the subsidy,” said Krzysztof Inglot of the human resources company WorkService based in southwestern Poland.

He said that receiving a subsidy for two children gave women “a logically perfect argument” to give up work, stay at home and save on childcare. This worries opponents of the government’s current drive toward a more traditional society.

The tremendous popularity of the subsidy has made it hard for the opposition to criticize it.

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Source: Reuters and National Vanguard correspondents