The article investigates the emergence and development of the policies and politics of unemployment in Poland after 1989, where the latter constitutes a relatively new but salient phenomenon. We can observe a process of peaceful institutionalisation of unemployment, which became a status conferring limited social rights, without this triggering significant protest or opposition. Two complementary explanations account for this. First, trade unions have been instrumental in ensuring social peace. Secondly, labour market and social policies have played a major role in containing the opposition of certain groups. The design of labour market policies was thus largely driven by domestic politics while external influences and europeanization in particular played a minor role before 2004.