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Employing 2018 European Social Survey data in a multilevel framework, the paper aims to estimate the effect of working for low pay on a wide range of political attitudes and to explain the attitudinal differences between the Central and Eastern European (CEE) and Western European regions based on their differing socio- economic and political background. The results suggest that it is mainly the lower living standard of inhabitants together with widespread wage inequality and not the specific legacy of the communist regimes that undermine the individual’s perception of influence on politics, political confidence and satisfaction with democracy in CEE. The results also indicate that working for low pay has a significant positive effect on the individual’s trust in politicians, but the relationship is moderated by the country’s economic development and is only significant in rich countries.

This article analyses the determinants of worker satisfaction in Central and Eastern European countries, focusing on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, the latest European Social Survey data were utilised in a multilevel framework, covering 5681 workers from eight countries. The results suggest that both the general stringency of policies aimed at containing the spread of the COVID-19 contagion and the resulting disruptions to individuals’ working lives significantly affected the well-being of workers. Workers’ satisfaction with their jobs was negatively affected mainly through decreases in work income, but the impact on their overall life satisfaction was more complex. While income reductions and workplace relocation negatively impacted life satisfaction, the opportunity and possible necessity to stay home more positively affected the life satisfaction of workers. Nevertheless, the overall stringency of governmental policies related to COVID-19 significantly reduced workers’ life satisfaction.

Working for low pay may have substantial negative consequences at both the individual and societal level. This article adds to scarce research on low pay in Czechia, employing pooled longitudinal EU-SILC data for 2004 – 2017. It analyses patterns of low-wage employment and estimates the degree of low-pay persistence in terms of genuine state dependence in low-wage employment, accounting for both observed and unobserved heterogeneity among workers and endogeneity in the initial conditions. The results indicate that low pay exhibits a significant degree of state dependence in Czechia: having a low-paid job on average increases the likelihood of staying low paid in the future by 14 percentage points. The most important individual factors predisposing workers to earn low wages and get stuck in a low-paid job are low education and the female gender.

This article explores the development of part-time employment in Central and Eastern Europe compared to Western Europe. The analysis of panel data reveals the role of part-time work determinants on the macro level and their different effects on part-time employment in the two groups of countries. The large set of determinants includes business cycle, labour market institutions and structural factors. The results indicate that part-time employment in the East and the West is influenced by different, mostly structural, factors. In the East, the development of business cycle has a significant adverse effect. Further, rigorous EPL limits the use of part-time contracts by firms in the East while higher trade union density, greater share of temporary jobs and widespread shadow economy all have a positive effect on part-time employment in this region.

PurposeThe authors aim to demonstrate the impact of allowing for unequal intra-household distribution of resources on income poverty and income inequality.Design/methodology/approachThe paper applies a collective consumption model to study the intra-household distribution of resources in Visegrád countries (V4). It utilises subjective financial satisfaction as a proxy for indirect utility from individual consumption to estimate the indifference scales within couples instead of the traditional equivalence scale. The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2013 and 2018 data are applied.FindingsThis study’s results indicate substantial economies of scale from living in a couple that are generally higher than implied by the commonly applied equivalence scale. The sharing rule estimates suggest that at the mean of distribution factors, women receive a consumption share between 0.4 and 0.6; however, some of the results are close to an equal sharing of 0.5. The female consumption share rises with her contribution to household income. Regarding income poverty and inequality, the authors show that both these measures might be underestimated in the traditional approach to equal sharing of resources.Originality/valueThe authors add to the empirics by estimating indifference scales for Czechia (CZ), Hungary (HU), Poland (PL) and Slovakia (SK), countries that have not been involved in previous research.

This article explores the development of part-time employment in Central and Eastern Europe and compares it to Western Europe. On the macro level it examines the role of the business cycle and its effect on part-time employment in the two groups of countries since 2001. The key result reveals that contrary to the West, the business cycle development exerts a significant negative effect on the part-time employment rate in Eastern Europe. When the economy operates below its potential, part-time employment tends to grow more than full-time employment. This finding is consistent with the labour demand effect and reflects the pursuit of flexibility by firms as well as the adjustment in composition of employment to changing economic conditions. The countercyclical effect is even stronger for involuntary part-time employment. Separate analyses of individual demographic groups of workers reveal a significant negative effect of the business cycle on part-time employment of older workers and male prime-age workers in Eastern Europe. In contrast, the effect is insignificant for young workers and unclear for prime-age women.

This article analyses the effects of minimum wage on employment in the Czech and Slovak Republics based on 2005-17 EU-SILC data. Our results contribute to the scant literature on minimum wage effects in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. While prior empirical findings concurred with the effects of minimum wage on labour market outcomes in CEE countries when the minimum wage is relatively high, there is ambiguity when the minimum wage is relatively low. In Slovakia we find that regular minimum wage hikes had insignificant effects on employment. Similarly, we find no negative employment consequences from irregular hikes in the comparatively low minimum wage (MW) of the Czech Republic. Moreover, the groups assumed to be most affected by MW hikes did not experience greater negative consequences following hikes when compared to the overall population of workers in either country.

This paper focuses on a neglected—horizontal—dimension of social stratification. It examines the patterns of social differentiation in the Visegrád countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) and attempts to assess changes in the social structure at the subnational level. Social structure changes are explained within the context of broader socio-economic development. The main analyses performed in this study are based on EUSILC micro-data covering 2006–2016 and offer a comprehensive perspective on the patterns of social-stratification development at the regional level utilising three dimensions: social class (proxied by the European Social-Economic Classification), highest attained education level, and income. The results indicate different trajectories in social differentiation across the four countries, although some of the patterns identified are similar. The results indicate that the working class is shrinking and the salariat is growing, and that there are declining shares of people with at most primary or secondary education and increasing numbers with tertiary education. Income inequalities remained relatively stable over the observed period across the Czech and Slovak regions, but fluctuated in Hungarian regions, and the initially greater income inequalities in Polish regions have tended to decline over time. The findings suggest that the least favourable patterns in the development of regional social differentiation are found in the Hungarian regions.

Working for low pay may have substantial negative consequences at both the individual and societal level. This article adds to scarce research on low pay in Czechia, employing pooled longitudinal EU-SILC data for 2004 - 2017. It analyses patterns of low-wage employment and estimates the degree of low-pay persistence in terms of genuine state dependence in low-wage employment, accounting for both observed and unobserved heterogeneity among workers and endogeneity in the initial conditions. The results indicate that low pay exhibits a significant degree of state dependence in Czechia: having a low-paid job on average increases the likelihood of staying low paid in the future by 14 percentage points. The most important individual factors predisposing workers to earn low wages and get stuck in a low-paid job are low education and the female gender.

The article assesses well-being in the Czech Republic compared to other Visegrad countries (Slovakia, Hungary, Poland) and neighbouring Germany and Austria. By employing various approaches designed by several international organisations it takes an aggregate perspective to assess both the current well-being and its sustainability into the future. All employed indicators that relate to current well-being evaluate the well-being in the Czech Republic as moderate among the OECD countries. The results indicate that the position in well-being rankings improves with the growing number of dimensions or subjective factors included in the well-being measure, mainly due to the reduction in relative importance of income dimension and higher emphasis on the multidimensionality and complexity of well-being. In the case of sustainability, large differences can be identified in evaluation stemming from Happy Planet Index and Sustainable Society Index perspective. Although both of them agree on unfavourable situation as regards environmental sustainability in the Czech Republic, different accent on economic area alters the final result substantially. The analysis shows that for any well-being assessment, the choice of indicators is crucial and a large portion of caution is necessary when interpreting these.