The Polish labour market is characterised by increasing flexibility and precarisation of employment relationships. This is due to the spread of limitedterm and civil-law work contracts, in many cases covering a de facto employeelike status without job-security and social rights. These new working conditions, particularly in low-skill service areas, provide many with what is a sub-povertyline existence, but have yet to become a public scandal. This article seeks to explain why this is the case by reconstructing Polish labour market policies, which are torn between the influences of economic transition and European integration.