Profiling the unemployed

Since 2014, job centres in Poland have been using an algorithmic decision-making system to categorize unemployed people and allocated different types of assistance. In the context of the global financial crisis in 2007, job centres have tried to become more efficient, among other things by introducing more individual advice by profiling the unemployed using an algorithm. However, this new tool created many challenges for a transparent decision-making and effective use of social rights. In this article, five lessons learned from profiling the unemployed are presented as a case of automated decisions in public administration.