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

Lux M., P. Sunega, M. Mikeszová, J. Večerník, F. Matyáš 2006
Prague: The Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Conclusions resulting from the surveys conducted specially within the framework of the project

The very first of these additional surveys, "CVVM 2005", confirmed the strong significance of the attitude variable measuring satisfaction with housing; on the other hand, the survey also surprisingly revealed that the factors measuring the strength and importance of social networks in the place of residence (family ties and relatives, involvement in local groups and organisations) have no statistically significant effect on the intention to migrate for employment. While controlling for the effect of the other significant factors, the "CVVM 2005" survey confirmed the significance of the effect of tenure on the intention to move for employment (in this case, however, only the effect of ownership/co-ownership of a family home), and additionally also confirmed the effect of the type of residential area (or urban environment) in which the respondents live - tenants in housing estates and tenants in rural areas were significantly more willing to move for job opportunities if they were to become unemployed. Although the coefficient of determination (the percentage of explained variation of the dependent variable) in the final regression model was higher than in the final model using data from the "Housing Attitudes 2001" survey, even in this case the coefficient remained below an acceptable level.

Qualitative surveys were conducted among unemployed people living in the City of Opava (located in North-Moravia near Ostrava not far from border with Poland) and among people who had moved to Prague from job reasons in the form of focus groups, and they were instrumental in fulfilling the objective of increasing the explained variation of the intention to move for employment. Data from the focus-group surveys made it possible to confirm the fact that the lifestyle and psychological disposition of a person, in addition to other proven factors, such as age, tenure, education, or stage in the life cycle, are factors that are of substantial significance for determining whether a person is willing to move for the purpose of employment. There is a fundamental difference between those who are willing to move for employment and those who are not in terms of their understanding of personal responsibility (responsibility for one's own life and one's self-fulfilment as opposed to responsibility for the wider family), in the degree of confidence and courage they have to take up in an unfamiliar environment (the willingness to undertake a certain amount of risk as opposed to making one's current securities a priority, especially the security of housing), in their view of work and opportunities in life (more of a positive view oriented towards tackling problems rather than a negative, critical view inclined to find reasons why problems cannot be solved) and particularly in their approach to their own professional career (people willing to move want to improve professionally, to grow, to experience new, interesting, creative work, to achieve certain professional success). In addition, some other evident factors are the opportunities a person has to find work in the informal labour market and the poverty trap (an overly generous social system can trap many unemployed people in poverty, as the potential incomes from employment sharply reduces the amount of social benefits). Among married people of middle age or older, and more so in families with children, it is generally necessary for several life events, motivations, to occur at once for them to decide to move if they are unemployed (divorce, the death of a partner, children reaching adulthood, the opportunity for cheap housing in the potential new job location).

The most recent survey, "CVVM 2006", succeeded in increasing the coefficient of determination in the regression models explaining the intention to move for employment in the case of unemployment using information drawn from qualitative surveys - the ordinal regression model explained 36% of the variance of the dependent variable. In the final model the significance of the effect of "objective" factors (such as age, education, marital status, size of the respondent's locality, sex, and even the tenure or the type of residential area the respondent lives in) was entirely outweighed by the significance of the effect of "attitudinal" factors - especially the significance of the effect of how satisfied a respondent is with their housing (by far the most important factor), the respondent's flexibility with regard to job aspects in general, the respondent's psychological typology on a conservative-liberal spectrum, the respondent's satisfaction with their current employment, their perception of the importance of being professionally successful, and how important it is to the respondent to perform interesting, creative activity and experience something new. In the case of the model with a high coefficient of determination the fact that, while controlling for other significant effects, the most important factor affecting the intention to move for employment was the respondent's satisfaction with their housing, which itself is significantly affected by the tenure and the type of residential area in which the respondent lives is solid confirmation of the fact that housing conditions (especially ownership of a family home) have a statistically very significant effect on whether people move (migrate) for job opportunities within Czech society.


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