Economical

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.

In the case of losing a job, people would usually look for a new one, usually a specific job that would correspond to their idea of a new job defined in advance (53%). Approximately two fifths of respondents (42%) on the other stated that they would look for any job in this situation and the remaining 5% answered that they did not know. 76% said that they would be willing to undergo re-training if this was a condition necessary to acquire new employment, 71% said they would be willing to work overtime, 69% would agree to a higher work pace, 55% to a transfer to less qualified work, 48% to work at weekends, 41% would agree to shorter working hours, 37% to night shifts, 36% to worse pay, 25% to worse working conditions, 21% to a longer daily commuting time, and 13% to the need to move.

39% of people who could lose a job in the next two years are concerned about this possibility. 47% of respondents, who are also concerned about possible unemployment, on the other hand stated that they were not worried about losing a job. In the case of losing a job, people would mostly try to get a new one, usually a specific job that would correspond to their idea of a new job defined in advance (53%).

27% of respondents believe that most unemployed do not work because they do not want to work, 49% believe that those who cannot find a corresponding or suitable job prevail amongst the unemployed, and 18% believe that the main reason for unemployment is that the unemployed cannot find any job at all. Czech citizens are mostly convinced that both, to find employment in the region in which they live and also to find a job in their specialist field irrespective of a region is difficult.

Approximately two thirds of (66%) of inhabitants older than fifteen consider unemployment in the CR to be too high, approximately one quarter (27%) consider it to be adequate. 56% of respondents presume that in the next two years there will be a small increase in unemployment, 29% of respondents stated that the unemployment levels in the next two years would not change considerably and only 2% contemplate its decrease in the next two years.

In the survey from the end of November and beginning of December 2002, more than two thirds (68%) of respondents describe the standard of living of their household as being good, contrary to this 31% describe it as being bad. In comparison to 2002, this is the most positive recorded result which, however, is not surprising, because the period of the end of November and beginning of December, or more precisely the beginning of December, is the time of year when the subjective evaluations provided by respondents is the best when compared to the long-term cross-section.

We found out that 13% of citizens consider the taxes that are imposed on those with high income to be too high, 24% as adequate and 42% to be low, out of which 15% consider them to be “too low”. Taxation on people with average income is almost unanimously characterised as high by two fifths (44%) or adequate (40%), 4% characterise them as low. Two thirds (67%) of people view taxes of people with low income as high, 17% as adequate and only 2% as low.

Results show that the most critical evaluation by employees was concerning their salaries, both when assessing their current pay level and, in particular, the prospects for its increase and also job security. In response to the question about the care employees receive from their companies, we recorded an approximately balanced proportion of those who were satisfied and those who were not. When other aspects of current employment were surveyed, satisfaction prevailed; almost three quarters of respondents were satisfied with the interesting aspects of their work or how their skills and qualifications were utilised.

On average, respondents believe that the monthly salary for a family of four which marks the poverty level is 22,210 CZK however the most frequent response stated 20,000 CZK. The concept of the poverty level continuously changes with the perception of income which would be sufficient to cover basic requirements of the respondents’ household needs. People with a higher standard of living...

On average, respondents believe that the monthly salary for a family of four which marks the poverty level is 22,210 CZK however the most frequent response stated 20,000 CZK. The concept of the poverty level continuously changes with the perception of income which would be sufficient to cover basic requirements of the respondents’ household needs. People with a higher standard of living also define the poverty level to be higher.