Policies for employment and unemployment in a context of systemic change. A post-communist administration facing high unemployment

The paper traces the construction of public policies designed to address rising unemployment in post- communist Poland in the period 1990-2004. It investigates both the way in which unemployment is formulated as a problem and the development of public policies designed to address it. This allows to capture the redefinition of the role and functions of state administration in the socio-economic sphere. The paper has an empirical focus.