Work, Income, Living Level

The survey showed that the most frequent form of assistance provided by employers is a reduction of working hours to a part-time job - this is available at a workplace of 29% of respondents. Approximately one fifth (22%) could benefit from flexible working ours or a job-share (21%). Approximately every tenths respondent stated that he or she could work from home (11%) and that their employer provided them with an exceptional leave of absence (12%).

The issues of balancing work with a family life were surveyed by the department of Gender & Sociology of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Science of the CR in an April questionnaire. No problems were reported by almost a quarter of respondents (23%). If some problems were reported they occurred during the third year of the child’s life. Half of respondents reported that they problems with how to balance work and family duties appeared at this stage.

Most of economically active respondents who are concerned with this problem stated that they did not have problems balancing both (59%). About a fifth handles their job tasks very well - but at the expense of their family (21%). Two percent experience the opposite – they cut work short for the benefit of their family. Fifteen percent manage to handle just half of family and work responsibilities. Three percent of respondents balance work and family with major difficulties.

Economically active respondents stated that the main decisive factor was financial security – which for 81% plays a very important and for 17% a more important role. Connected to this is also the need to improve the family budget (71% very important, 22% more important). The majority of respondents stress the need to be independent as the reason for their work activity (very important: 57%) 54% also identified security in the case of illness and the security of a pension as very important factors.

A large proportion of those who are economically active identify the opportunity for women to become economically active compared to men to be worse in their field of work. With the exception of the ability to get a management position, where the opinion that men have a better chance compared to women was supported by almost three fifths of respondents, this view does not prevail over the portion of those who see the position of men and women to be equal.

More than a quarter of the population consider women to be definitely disadvantaged on the job market. Only one fifth of the Czech population think that there is no difference between the position of men and women on the job market. Both men and women think that the following groups are mainly disadvantaged: mothers of pre-school children, older women, women after maternity leave, people with a low level of education, physically handicapped people, and single mothers.

The amended Employment Code extended the ability to take paternity leave from a lone father caring for a child to all men irrespective their marital status. This amendment made men and women formally equal in respect to the care for a child from birth to the age of three. Despite this, there was only a very small percentage of respondents (11%) who in the April CPOR census that stated that they new a man who was currently on paternity leave.

69% of inhabitants assessed the standard of living of their household as being good, whilst 29% assesses it as being bad. Materialistic life conditions of their households are considered to be good by 35% of respondents, neither good nor bad by 45%, and bad by 19%. The perception of the standard of living and materialistic living conditions is improving with increasing income and increasing level of education of the respondent.

At the beginning of 2003, 61% of respondents considered the standard of living of their household to be good, 36% thought the opposite. 39% of Czechs consider their household to be poor. Difficulties with managing the current income were admitted by 61% of respondents, 35% on the other hand state that they managed the budget more or less easily. 28% of respondents got into a very difficult financial situation last year, whilst for 66% this was not the case.

Critical views on the current economic situation of the state prevail in all three countries. The lowest level of dissatisfaction was detected in Hungary (31% bad), and the highest in Poland (64% bad). The opinion of the Czech public is between these two - 7% of respondents consider the position of the CR to be good, 49% to be bad, 43% as neither good nor bad. As far as prospects of the economic development are concerned, Czech people are the most sceptical.