Work Motivation of Czech Mothers with Children under Three Years of Age

This article addresses the issue of the relationship of parenthood, employment and economic inactivity of childcare holders. It focuses on the mother's motivation to work in the context of Czech social policy measures. The aim is to empirically verify the willingness of women, taking care of children under three years old, to return to work. The decision of mothers, about their participation the labour market, is analysed by indicator "Effective cost of return to work" and by using sensitivity analysis. Negative net fi nancial effect of return to work was identifi ed for all studied regions and types of workloads. These results demonstrate clearly that mothers, entering the labour market, are confronted with very high additional costs. These costs would not be covered by their employment income and other received benefi ts. Estimated amount of potential wage, which would encourage women to return to work, reach in some cases up to four times the median wage of women in the particular region.

Keywords: employment of women, motivation to work, harmonization of work and family life, institutional care of children, fi nancial support, labour market