Sectoral Restructuring and Labor Mobility: A Comparative Look at the Czech Republic

Labor mobility is crucial for an efficient allocation of resources and the transition economies are often viewed as suffering from inadequate reallocation of labor. Using quarterly micro data for the 1994-1998 period, we provide a comparative analysis of the extent and determinants of labor mobility in the Czech Republic. We show there has been significant movement into the finance, trade, and tourism sectors and out of the agricultural and industrial sectors. Over half of the people who change jobs have changed sector of employment, and this restructuring has been carried out relatively efficiently in that it occurred with lower incidence and duration of unemployment than in the other transition economies. The demographic characteristics of different patterns of mobility are similar across these transition economies: we identify younger people in general and single men as individuals who more likely to change jobs or become unemployed. The more educated are experiencing more job stability and are more likely to be hired if unemployed or out of the labor force. Finally, we find in the Czech Republic, the flows between employment and unemployment are very responsive to demand conditions. Hence, we conclude that the Czech labor market is demonstrating flexibility and efficiency in the transitionhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39657/3/wp273.pd

Sectoral Restructuring and Labor Mobility: A Comparative Look at the Czech Republic

Labor mobility is crucial for an efficient allocation of resources and the transition economies are often viewed as suffering from inadequate reallocation of labor. Using quarterly micro data for the 1994-1998 period, we provide a comparative analysis of the extent and determinants of labor mobility in the Czech Republic. We show there has been significant movement into the finance, trade, and tourism sectors and out of the agricultural and industrial sectors. Over half of the people who change jobs have changed sector of employment, and this restructuring has been carried out relatively efficiently in that it occurred with lower incidence and duration of unemployment than in the other transition economies. The demographic characteristics of different patterns of mobility are similar across these transition economies: we identify younger people in general and single men as individuals who more likely to change jobs or become unemployed. The more educated are experiencing more job stability and are more likely to be hired if unemployed or out of the labor force. Finally, we find in the Czech Republic, the flows between employment and unemployment are very responsive to demand conditions. Hence, we conclude that the Czech labor market is demonstrating flexibility and efficiency in the transition

Labor Market Policies and Unemployment in the Czech Republic

We analyze the impact of the active labor market policies (ALMPS) and the unemployment compensation system (UCS) on unemployment duration's of different groups in the Czech population by estimating hazard functions with new macroeconomic data. We conclude these programs were effective in improving the functioning of the labor market. The UCS system has allowed the unemployed to search for jobs but has not unduly prolonged unemployment spells. This first analysis of the effectiveness of ALMPs on unemployment duration's shows that job brokering shortened spells of the groups that tended to have longer unemployment duration's: women, Romans, handicapped, less educated, and those with an unemployment history. Overall our results suggest that the UCS and the ALMPs increased the social acceptability of the painful economic transition.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39603/3/wp216.pd

Labor Market Policies and Unemployment in the Czech Republic

We analyze the impact of the active labor market policies (ALMPS) and the unemployment compensation system (UCS) on unemployment duration's of different groups in the Czech population by estimating hazard functions with new macroeconomic data. We conclude these programs were effective in improving the functioning of the labor market. The UCS system has allowed the unemployed to search for jobs but has not unduly prolonged unemployment spells. This first analysis of the effectiveness of ALMPs on unemployment duration's shows that job brokering shortened spells of the groups that tended to have longer unemployment duration's: women, Romans, handicapped, less educated, and those with an unemployment history. Overall our results suggest that the UCS and the ALMPs increased the social acceptability of the painful economic transition.

Work incentive and other effects of social assistance and unemployment benefit policy in the Czech Republic

In this paper we provide an account of most of the passive labor market policies (unemployment compensation, social assistance, state social support and the pension system) in the Czech Republic during the 1990–1996 period. The eligibility requirements and benefit levels are described in great detail. Using Labor Force Survey data, we compare the characteristics of unemployed people receiving unemployment benefits with those receiving social assistance and those not receiving any benefits and we find significant differences in their characteristics. Finally, we provide an analysis of the work disincentive effects of the unemployment and social assistance benefits by comparing these benefits to market wages and by analyzing the effect of being in the system on the duration of unemployment of two cohorts of unemployed in 1994 and 1995. We find that social assistance benefits are fairly generous for low income families with more children, individuals with these characteristics have a higher probability of receiving social assistance and they tend to stay unemployed longer than those people with relatively fewer dependants. We conclude that the social assistance scheme seems to be having some disincentive effects for at least one group in the population.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45833/1/181_2005_Article_BF01205681.pd

Czech and Slovak Labour Market.

The main idea behind the study is that the labor mobility is crucial for efficient allocation of resources and a high flexibility of the labor market can help to prevent rising unemployment due to a heavy restructuring. It was found that there has been a significant movement into the finance, trade and tourism sectors and out of the agricultural and industrial sectors. The demographic characteristics of different patterns of mobility were similar to that of other transitional economies. Flows between employment and unemployment are very responsive to demand conditions. The conclusion is that the Czech labor market was demonstrating flexibility and efficiency in the transition period. For lack of data similar analysis of the Slovak labor market could not be done.Available from STL Prague, CZ / NTK - National Technical LibrarySIGLECZCzech Republi