Poles loath to pick asparagus in Germany: report

Asparagus growers in Germany are having problems recruiting workers to pick the vegetables as these become ripe for harvesting, a Polish broadcaster has reported.

In previous years, German growers relied on seasonal workers from Poland and Romania, but this year Poles have been reluctant to pick asparagus in Germany, Polish private television broadcaster Polsat News has reported.

It said on its website that authorities in Germany were attributing this new trend to factors including generous handouts available to Poles under their conservative government’s "Family 500+" child benefits programme.

The polsatnews.pl website cited German media as reporting that the reduced number of asparagus pickers from Poland this year was particularly noticeable in Lower Saxony, the German state where the vegetable is particularly plentiful.

The Polish broadcaster quoted the German foreign ministry as saying that the Polish economy was growing at a fast rate and that the Polish "Family 500+" programme could be one of the reasons Poles did not want to leave their families for three months and work out in the field in Germany.

Authorities in Germany were also pointing out that seasonal workers from countries including Poland were being attracted by other EU members, such as the Netherlands, Polsat News reported.

The broadcaster also said foreign labourers were increasingly seeking jobs in other sectors of the German economy such as services, construction and logistics as they improved their German-speaking skills.

Poland’s socially conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, which came to power in late 2015, aims to ease the burdens of child rearing by giving families with two or more children a handout of PLN 500 (EUR 116, USD 130) a month per child.

Poorer families receive the allowance even if they have just one child.

Under new rules approved by Polish lawmakers in late April, the “Family 500+” programme is set to be expanded to include all single-child families regardless of income.

If backed by both houses of parliament and signed into law by the president, the new rules are expected to come into effect on July 1.

Poland spends 2.7 percent of its GDP on state benefits for families and children—one of the highest figures in the 28-nation European Union, according to a newspaper.

(gs/pk)

Source: polsatnews.pl