Work, Income, Living Level

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.

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%).