J13 - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; YouthReturn

The objective of this study is to estimate effects of tax family benefits, social family benefits, availability of kindergartens and economic situation on fertility in the Czech Republic. The data cover the period 1993-2018 and come from the Czech Statistical Office and Czech legislation. The relationship between the variables and the total fertility rate as the dependent variable was analysed using regression analysis. The results show that fertility is positively affected by the supply of kindergartens and social family benefits. On the other hand, higher unemployment as an indicator of unfavourable economic situation decreases fertility. The effect of tax benefits was not statistically significant, which is not surprising, because tax family benefits are much lower in comparison with social family benefits. The model is limited by the number of variables and the number of observations; therefore, the model results should be taken as signals, not as definite answers.

This article analyses the options how changes in Czech tax-benefit system could increase mother´s economic activity. The article builds up on the study (previous author´s study published in 2015). This underlying study presents a calculation according to which women, taking care of children up to 3 years, results with a lower net cash flow after returning to work compare to staying at home. The aim is to propose measures that would motivate women, with children up to 3 years, to return to work and simultaneously quantify the impact of these measures on the state budget. Economic effects of the proposed measures are quantified, including the cancelation of conditional entitlement to parental benefit, introduction of tax relief for working mothers and 50% relief on employer's mandatory contributions, which employ parents part-time. Implementation of these measures, which would motivate more women to return to work, would bring an estimated net income amounting to 9.5 billion crowns to the state budget per year.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the influence of family policy on family behaviour. The paper analyses the impact of parametric and system changes introduced in family and social benefits and tax reliefs in 2006-2015 on the income level of families with different demographic characteristics, and evaluates the potential of those changes to influence reproductive and partnership behaviour. The analytical part takes selected instruments of financial support to the family and shows the size of the financial provision families can claim depending on their previous earned income, to what extent that income is being compensated (family benefits), and how the net income is influenced (tax reliefs). Effects of the studied changes vary for different income categories and are more pronounced in the case of low-income families. This differentiation corresponds to the fertility by mother's education, which is tightly linked to the family's income. The analysis has shown that certain instruments have the potential to influence family behaviour, however in diverse ways.

In this study we explore the timing of the return of women with young children to the labour market after the family leave, using the Czech labor force survey data. We document the evolution of the unemployment risk by the age of their child and the mechanism through which mothers with young children become unemployed. Majority of women return to the labor market when their child is 3 years old. The unemployment rate among women with at least a high school diploma reaches 12% and among those with lower education is as high as 28% when their child is three. Women often become unemployed immediately after returning to the labour market. Almost 60% of women without a high school diploma and about 34 % of women with higher education become unemployed immediately after the family leave. Moreover, this unemployment is not always just a brief intermission between the end of family leave (or after having returned to their previous employment) and a new job. More than half of women without high school diploma and more than a third of women with higher education are unemployed for more than six months.

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.

This paper tests the selected determinants shaping the careers of women. It uses data from an exclusive survey conducted in 2011 in the Czech Republic and confronts the results with Hakim's preference theory. The results suggest arguments both for against the preference theory. We formulated four hypotheses and verifi ed them by binary probit models. In accordance with the Hakim's theory we were able to demonstrate that the preference for work (work-centered preference)has a positive and signifi cant impact on the career choices of women on the Czech labor market. According to the results of the model is the work-centered preference associated with 52% increase in likelihood that a woman will spend most of the energy in employment. The impact of higher education has been shown to be positive and signifi cant - higher education increases the likelihood that a woman will spend most of the energy is employment by more than 14%. The impact of motherhood is according to our data negative and signifi cant. It reduces the likelihood of career choices by more than 19% and this effect is the same for one and more children which is in contrast to Hakim's theory.

Using cross-sectional data from WageIndicator web survey for Czech Republic, this paper shows that motherhood has a negative effect on women's wages. The penalty is between 1-13%, depending on personal characteristics. Results of auxiliary regressions suggest that behind the negative effect is loss of human capital caused by maternity and parental leave as well as lower work effort of mothers at work and self-selection of mothers into more mother-friendly jobs. We have found a significant motherhood wage penalty in the private sector. However, in the public sector mothers receive a 1% wage premium. In contrast with theory, results show that low educated women yield a 4% premium for motherhood. In conclusion, the motherhood wage penalty in Czech Republic exhibits properties similar to those found in other European and US studies.

The Czech Republic has undergone a profound political, economical and social transformation in the past few decades. The changes that have occurred in society showed strongly in the change in the demographic behaviour of society and the change in the general population climate. The transition to the market economy brought with it new opportunities for self-realisation, young people give preference to other values than the starting of a family at an early age. From the analysis of the time series it emerges that there is a long-run relationship between the birth rate and the marriage rate in the Czech Republic.