|
|
Income loss compensation during the Covid-19 pandemic: the winners and the losers
Kalíšková, Klára ; Zapletalová, Lucie
In this study we analyze how income compensation tools adopted by the Czech government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic were targeted at various groups of households. We reveal what proportion of the state’s overall expenditure on compensatory measures was targeted to the households most heavily affected by the pandemic. Despite the fact that the state spent a substantial amount on measures to compensate households for loss of income, the pandemic still had a substantially heavier impact on the poorer layers of society. This may manifest itself in the future as a deepening of existing problems with debt, executions and child poverty.\n
|
|
|
Differences in the strictness of grading and its impact on student educational aspirations
Münich, Daniel ; Protivínský, Tomáš
For students and their parents, school grades are a key piece of information that helps to shape educational and career ambitions. We find that 87% of Czech ninth graders with an A in mathematics want to go to university. Among students with a C, only 39% have the same aspiration. There is wide variation in the strictness of grading across Czech primary schools. On average, grades awarded can differ by as much as a full letter grade between stricter and more moderately grading schools. Even when they in fact have measurably equivalent skills, students from schools that grade more strictly have lower academic aspirations than students from schools that grade more moderately. Grades on report cards are also often among the admissions criteria for secondary schools and high schools. Differences in the strictness of grading and the crucial roles of grades in planning future educational paths can therefore lead to misguided decisions by students and parents, inefficiencies in the education system, and suboptimal allocation of talent.
|
|
|
Poverty and social benefits in socially excluded localities
Federičová, Miroslava ; Kalíšková, Klára ; Zapletalová, Lucie
This study presents a unique analysis of the living conditions of individuals and households in socially excluded localities (SELs) in terms of their income and exposure to poverty, compared to the average population. Special attention is paid to the receipt of social benefits and their effectiveness in reducing poverty. The analysis is based on unique data from living conditions in a socially excluded localities survey (SEL-SILC), conducted in 2020 by the Agency for Social Inclusion of the Czech Ministry of Regional Development, and from data from the Living Conditions Survey (EU-SILC) conducted by the Czech Statistical Office in 2020.
|
|
| |
|
|
Teacher turnover in Europe
Federičová, Miroslava ; Pertold, Filip
This short study summarises the findings of original empirical research on long-term trends in teachers exiting the profession in all European regions, including the Czech Republic. We find similar patterns in some respects across all countries, but there are significant regional differences. For the Czech Republic and countries in the entire Central European region, we find that, during the economic transformation from 1990-2000 more young male teachers left the teaching profession. This is likely due to more lucrative opportunities in alternative professions. The economic transformation significantly contributed to the feminization of the teaching profession.
|
|
|
The intensity of teachers’ use of teaching methods and its impact on learning outcomes
Korbel, Václav
One of the two principal aims of the Czech Republic’s national Strategy for Education Policy up to 2030+ is to transform both the content of school curricula and the methods used to teach them. For example, greater emphasis is to be placed on group activities, project-based teaching, the application of knowledge to various contexts and enquiry-based learning. Yet, to date, rather few studies have analysed how different types of teaching methods are used by primary school teachers in the Czech Republic or at the equivalent level abroad and what impacts their use has on learning outcomes. This study uses longitudinal data from a representative sample of primary school pupils to analyse what percentage of lessons — in the Czech Republic and abroad — make use of four specific teaching approaches: 1) lecturing, 2) appropriation, 3) comprehension and 4) testing. We then look into the relationship between these teaching methods and pupils’ progress in reading skills and mathematics between the fourth and sixth years of primary school. The data on teaching methods was gathered from fourth year primary school teachers via a questionnaire as part of TIMSS 2011. To estimate the relationship between teaching methods and learning outcomes, we make use of the fact that the pupils were tested in two subjects in both years. This means that we can estimate the difference in progress made when pupils are taught using each method with greater or lesser intensity in the two subjects (pupil level fixed-effects).
|
|
|
We’ve done the math: here’s what the abolition of super-gross wages, reductions in social security contributions and the introduction of tax holidays will really mean
Kalíšková, Klára ; Šoltés, Michal
In the past year, the Czech Republic has seen plenty of changes in how employment income is taxed. Tax legislation adopted in December 2020 and July 2021 will reduce public revenues in 2022 by about 116 billion CZK. In other words, in 2022 employees will pay less than half the income tax that they would have paid without these tax changes. Average tax rates have been reduced for all income groups, although low-income employees will gain a disproportionately small slice of this savings pie. Employees in the lowest income quintile will save 500 CZK per month on average, whereas those in the highest income quintile will save an average of 4,000 CZK each month. The newly adopted tax legislation has substantially increased the share of employees who pay zero or negative income tax (i.e. receive what is known as the child tax bonus). There is thus little room for any further income tax reduction, especially for taxpayers who claim tax relief for their children or low-earning spouse.
|
|
|
Increase of CZK 395 billion compared to 2019: where the first draft expenditure in the state budget for 2022 was headed
Kolář, D. ; Janský, Petr
The draft state budget (SB) for 2022 submitted at the end of summer 2021 by the outgoing government of Andrej Babiš planned for expenditures of 1,928 billion CZK. That would be 394.5 billion CZK, and 25.7% more than the actual expenditure of the SB in 2019. Such a significant increase in expenditure, unaccompanied by an adequate increase in revenues, would significantly increase the structural deficit of the SB. The new government of Petr Fiala has therefore decided to revise the original draft budget in a new provisional budget. In this study, we identify the expenditure items in the original draft of the SB that have changed most significantly from the situation in 2019. We also show to what extent the nominal growth in the SB items takes inflation into account, which was expected to be 10.2% in this period. Comparison with the actual expenditure of 2019 allows us to shield the direct expenditure consequences of the pandemic. In fact, according to the initial proposal of the SR, the assistance programmes for households and employers during the pandemic were already expected to be reduced significantly in 2022.
|
|
|
State employees and civil servants: where they work and how much they are paid
Bartušek, D. ; Bouchal, Petr ; Janský, Petr
Almost one fifth of the Czech Republic's workforce (calculated in full time equivalents) is employed in the public sector. In 2020, almost half (464,000) of these almost one million employees were paid out of the state budget and can be considered state employees. More than half (265,000) of the country's state employees are employed in state-funded institutions, in particular schools. The remaining, smaller share of state employees (198,000) work in a wide variety of other public organizations, including the armed forces, the police force, government ministries and job centres. Only a small proportion of state employees can be considered to be civil servants. In 2020 there were about 78,000 of these, which is approximately 8% of all public sector workers and 17% of state employees. This number is rather low in both absolute and relative terms, and stands in contrast to the substantial attention frequently paid in public debate to how many civil servants the country has.
|
|
|
Sick pay: what impact did the introduction of a waiting period have?
Grossmann, Jakub ; Zapletalová, Lucie
We analyze the impacts of a waiting period for sick pay introduced in 2008 in the Czech Republic on employment absence, sick leave, and other types of absences from the workplace. The new waiting period meant that employees did not receive any sickness benefits (‘sick pay’) for the first three days of sick leave. The waiting period was introduced to discourage employees from claiming sick pay unnecessarily and thereby to reduce sickness benefit expenditures. However, the measure also discourages employees from taking sick leave when they are unwell and may potentially increase the risk of contagion in the workplace.
|
guest ::
