An Analysis of Housing Policy Measures Aimed at Supporting Labour Flexibility in the Czech Republic

The reasons behind the unwillingness to move for employment

The most important reason respondents cited for their unwillingness to move for employment was their strong ties to the community, region, and housing they live in and where they feel themselves at home; the second most important reason was the factor of poor housing accessibility and low wages offered in the new job location. Ties to the community, region, or housing in which a respondent lives are not based just on important personal contacts with friends and relatives, or the amount of such contacts (the number of friends and relatives), or a person's direct or indirect participation in civil society where they live, as indicated in the "CVVM 2005". It is highly probable that these strong ties to the place of residence form even in the case of just small social networks, weak ties to relatives, and non-participation in the local life of society. It is likely that a person develops close ties to the community, region, and housing in which they live for certain psychological reasons (the desire to be at home somewhere, to put down roots), for reasons of comfort (habit, reluctance to change), for cultural reasons (the culture of "not moving" that is rooted in Czech society, partly because of the employment stability that existed under the previous regime), and the character of the housing also have some influence (sometimes it is too difficult to leave a family house with a garden, especially one inherited from one's forebears). The second most important reason is closely related to housing conditions, that is, the affordability of housing in the potential new job location. However, it was found that people who more often than others cited this as the main reason for not moving did not respond positively with any greater statistical significance to a generous incentive in the area of housing policy that would substantially improve the affordability of housing in the potential new job location (see below). It may be that while the problem of housing unaffordability is certainly grounded in truth, it could also to some degree be just a stylised response and a seemingly evident reason, but not the real reason for refusing to move for job.