The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between forms of labour market marginalisation, understood here in terms of labour market status and job quality on the one hand, and income disadvantage, material deprivation and social exclusion on the other hand. Public policies that aim to improve labour market position and the income level of people disadvantaged in the labour market are also assessed. The authors draw on data from a survey on social exclusion in the Czech Republic focusing on people who were welfare benefits recipients in 2004 or considered their situation to be comparable to that of welfare recipients. The authors show that labour market marginalisation is transparent not only during unemployment spells (often repeated and longterm) but also in the case of temporary, low paid and poor quality jobs. The income levels of people employed in the lowest segment of the labour market and of the unemployed are similar, while the deprivation of the unemployed is greater with regard to the possibilities open to them to influence the life course and opportunities of them and especially their families. The authors point out the under-use of welfare benefits and identify measures that could improve the standard of living and human capital of people who are disadvantaged. While some disadvantaged people continue to be active in the labour market and perceive work incentives, the authors also identify the poverty traps that emerge for the fraction of them who become discouraged and welfare-dependent.
The labour market is segregated both vertically and horizontally by gender. Some research has concluded that gender segregation results in a lower prestige being attributed to occupations labelled as feminine (Merkel et al. 2012, Formanowicz et al. 2012). On the other hand, gender-sensitive language that uses feminine labels for better contingency with social reality is considered a basic tool for gender equality. This article explores whether in Czech society there are differences in the level of prestige attached to 37 occupations labelled as feminine and masculine. The survey results show (sample of 642 adults that a gender difference exists only in a few occupations. In fields with a real prevalence of men or women the prestige of gender-congruent labelled occupations was significantly higher. Men’s and women’s opinions on occupational prestige are similar; this finding is interpreted in relation to social identity theory and system justification theory.
The transformation of spatial structures due to the migration flows is reflected not only in forms of interactions between representatives of a majority and minorities, but also in forms of implementation of integration strategies. The study shows that the implementation of integration strategies towards non-EU immigrants is strongly contextually conditioned: the demand (within the limits of available financial and human resources) determines the offer. The study evaluated integration measures applied by public and private stakeholders in selected areas with the aim to promote the integration of non-EU immigrants into the local labour market during the current economic crisis.
The intersectional perspective represents, in Czech sociology, an untapped opportunity to examine the interaction between the different lines of inequality in the process of constantly changing social structure. This article aims to enrich current Czech sociological research in two ways. Firstly, it analyses and describes the impacts of the economic crisis on labour market relations in the Czech Republic. Secondly, it applies the intersectional perspective in a quantitative analysis of structural inequalities. In this perspective, we analyse the changing structure of the labour market between 2008 and 2012 at the intersection of gender, class (education), age and parenthood, using statistical indicators. Moreover, we use event-history analysis to capture the risk of job loss in the first phase of the crisis (2008–2010). Our analysis shows that the economic crisis deepened existing inequalities in the labour market, further differentiated female labour market prospects by educational attainment, especially in interaction with parenthood, and also rapidly deteriorated the labour market situation of men with low education, including fathers of small children., Alena Křížková, Lenka Formánková., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The article focuses on the results of analyses of sociological research on how housing conditions affect the intended labour migration in the Czech Republic. The aim of the article is mainly to show, in reference to studies published in advanced countries, the effect of a housing tenure on the internal labour migration in the Czech environment. For this purpose the authors use a combination of quantitative and qualitative sociological methods (questionnaire surveys, focus groups). The results of the multi-dimensional logit models and the conclusions drawn from focus groups records indicate that housing tenure has a very significant effect on potential internal labour migration, even after controlling for the effect of other factors related to labour migration. This finding should be of substantial significance for the future direction of housing policy in the Czech Republic.