Page 5 - IDEA Studie 01 2023 Ruce a mozky ceskych zen

RUCE A MOZKY ČESKÝCH ŽEN STÁLE NEVYUŽITY IDEA 2023 Study 1/2023 Czech Women’s Heads and Hands Remain Unused2 JANUARY 2023 JAKUB GROSSMANN, DANIEL MÜNICH Summary • This analysis maps life-long profiles in the unemployment rate and hours worked by Czech women and changes in these over the past twenty years. Its key findings are presented in the form of graphs with commentary. The economic and statistic details are provided in the accompanying texts. • Up until the age of about 25, women’s average hours worked increase across the EU countries, as female graduates enter the labour market. The share of the youngest Czech women who are in work is slightly above average among the EU countries. Above this age, the growth in hours worked slows, in some countries temporarily stops, and in the Czech Republic actually reverses. This phenomenon is closely related to maternity and parenting, the workings of the labour market and the way in which systems of support for parents are set up in each country. • The slump in the employment rate and average hours worked among Czech women aged 25–34 years (which is currently the typical parenting age) has long been one of the largest across theEU. This represents a long-term underuse of the rather well-educated and productive female Czech workforce’s capacity, which the Czech labour market would benefit from engaging. • After the period typically devoted to maternity and bringing up young children, Czech women’s participation in the labour market once again increases and after the age of 50 even surpasses the average for women across the EU and approaches the profile for Czech men. Czech women’s high employment rate and large number of working hours only begins to drop, and that rather sharply, as the statutory retirement age approaches. 2 The authors thank Alena Bičáková, Štěpán Jurajda, and Klára Kalíšková for their valuable comments and advice. This study presents the authors’ own views and not the official position of the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Economics Institute nor of the Charles University Center for Econmic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE). Any remaining ambiguities or errors are the authors’ own. The study was produced with support from the Czech Academy of Sciences within its AV21 Strategy programme and as part of the NPO project „Národní institut pro výzkum socioekonomických dopadů nemocí a systémových rizik“ „LX22NPO5101“. 3