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Czech Labour Market Is Not Flexible Enough For New Mothers, Costing The State Billions Each Year

04.12.2024

Only 7% of women who are at home with children under the age of 4 are not interested in working. 22% want part-time or project-based work, 20% would welcome one day a week of work, 38% half-time, and 13% want to work full time. “In summary, the majority of Czech mothers with children under 4 would like to work more hours than they actually do,” said Kalíšková. According to her research, several factors prevent this. “Substitute childcare is not very available, and there are also not enough flexible work engagement options on the market,” said the researcher.

At the same time, Kalíšková, who also works at CERGE-EI and at FIS VŠE, calculated the potential increase in tax income for the state in the event that mothers started working according to their preferences. There are currently about 210,000 unemployed mothers in the Czech Republic, whose average preferred working time is 12 hours a week. At an average hourly wage of CZK 215, this means CZK 11,000 per month. “Involvement of non-working women in the labour market, according to their preferences, would bring about CZK 9.108 billion per year in income tax and social and health insurance contributions for employees and employers,” Kalíšková pointed out.

Another 150,000 mothers with young children work an average of 17 hours a week. However, their preferred working hours are about four hours a week more. In this case, the increase in hours worked according to their preferences would bring in about CZK 1.231 billion per year in income tax and social and health insurance payments for employees and employers.

Source: brnodaily.cz

The state loses about CZK 10 billion in taxes every year because women with small children cannot work as much as they want, according to researcher Klára Kalíšková from the SYRI National Institute, who has been studying the issue for a long time. The labour market is not yet as flexible as required by women on maternity leave. Greater involvement of mothers in the labour market is also hindered by the lack of available childcare, as well as social norms.

Kontakt

Klára Kalíšková Ph.D.

Klára Kalíšková holds the position of assistant professor at the Faculty of Informatics and Statistics of the University of Economics in Prague. She is also a research assistant at the National Economic Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and a researcher at the IDEA think tank at CERGE-EI. Her research topics include labor market economics and applied econometrics with a focus on gender differences in the labor market and the role of public policies in shaping them. She also actively participates in the evaluation of policy-making processes in the Czech Republic with a focus on employment and social impacts, for example as a member of the Committee for Reconciling Work, Private and Family Life at the Government Council of the Czech Republic.