<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Based on the interviews with that time managers, the paper aims to find out whether ideology affected the dealing with labor force in the last two decades of the socialist regime in Czechoslovakia. Technically, the labor market was balanced and characterized by zero unemployment and low and highly equalized wages. However, actually, there was a permanent imbalance with the lasting dominance of demand over supply and overemployment. Increasing wages was, due to ideological and formal settings of the system nearly impossible, and thus the economic agents tried to find alternative “solutions” to this imbalance. This situation led to low motivation of the labor force and consequently to low productivity. The positive side was represented by relatively good relationships among the employees. We demonstrate on the interviews that in the clash between ideology and the market forces, the former was stronger and in fact prevented efficient functioning of the labor market.</p></abstract>

Based on the interviews with that time managers, the paper aims to find out whether ideology affected the dealing with labor force in the last two decades of the socialist regime in Czechoslovakia. Technically, the labor market was balanced and characterized by zero unemployment and low and highly equalized wages. However, actually, there was a permanent imbalance with the lasting dominance of demand over supply and overemployment. Increasing wages was, due to ideological and formal settings of the system nearly impossible, and thus the economic agents tried to find alternative “solutions” to this imbalance. This situation led to low motivation of the labor force and consequently to low productivity. The positive side was represented by relatively good relationships among the employees. We demonstrate on the interviews that in the clash between ideology and the market forces, the former was stronger and in fact prevented efficient functioning of the labor market.

Functioning of the Quasi-Labor Market under Socialism: Clash between Ideology and Reality

DANUBE

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Based on the interviews with that time managers, the paper aims to find out whether ideology affected the dealing with labor force in the last two decades of...

Functioning of the Quasi-Labor Market under Socialism: Clash between Ideology and Reality

Published Online: Apr 23, 2019

Page range: 23 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2019-0002

Keywords
Labor Market, Balance, Shortage Economy, Motivation, Czechoslovakia

© 2019 Lucie Coufalová et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Functioning of the Quasi-Labor Market under Socialism: Clash between Ideology and Reality

Published Online: Apr 23, 2019

Page range: 23 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2019-0002

KeywordsLabor Market, Balance, Shortage Economy, Motivation, Czechoslovakia

© 2019 Lucie Coufalová et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Labor Market, Balance, Shortage Economy, Motivation, Czechoslovakia