This study of Polish unemployment intends to systematically elaborate the empirical bases for comparative research on the structure of earnings as well as unemployment. The focus is on a comparison of earnings structures and, with a view toward a possible enlargement of the European Community, on the question of the compatibility of earnings structures with social policy. Given its systematic approach, this exemplary study can serve as a model for further studies in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In this fashion, the potential as well as the limits to developing new institutions and instruments of labor market policy will become evident.
