Publicado en línea: 19 jun 2021
Páginas: 48 - 60
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/wrlae-2020-0004
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© 2020 Chlebisz Adam et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The differences in the level of economic development of countries are particularly evident considering the highly developed and developing countries, but even the former group is not a homogeneous
Marek Maciejewski, ‘Zróżnicowanie kondycji gospodarczej państw Unii Europejskiej’ (2017) Studia Ekonomiczne Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Katowicach. Agnieszka Głodowska, ‘Zróżnicowanie społeczno-gospodarcze jako czynnik dezintegracji Unii Europejskiej’ (2017) Horyzonty Polityki/Horizons of Politics 55. Adrian Smith, ‘Employment Restructuring and Household Survival in ‘Postcommunist Transition’: Rethinking Economic Practices in Eastern Europe’ (2000) 32 Environ Plan A 10, 1759. Adrian Smith and others, ‘The Emergence of a Working Poor: Labour Markets, Neoliberalisation and Diverse Economies in Post-Socialist Cities’ (2008) 40 Antipode 2, 283. Jan Fagerberg, Bart Verspagen and Marjolein Caniëls, ‘Technology, Growth and Unemployment across European Regions’ (1997) 31 Regional Studies 5, 457.
The basic reasons why post-communist countries began the transformation were the aspiration for a higher standard of living in Western Europe and greater individual freedom. The transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy and from totalitarianism to a more democratic form of government was crucial in the transformation process. The need to reform labour markets and social policy institutions proved to be an important element in the economic transformation. This was to maintain the old order and at the same time adapt to a decidedly different economic system. The whole change has left a significant mark on post-communist countries, differentiating many economic aspects from Western Europe. Despite the 30 years of market economy, and in many cases 15 years after accession to the European Union, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe remain different in terms of individual features of the labour market
Nicholas Barr,
The aim of the work was to show the European diversity in terms of labour market factors. Pearson's correlation coefficient, LOG and LOGIT modelling were used for the study. The analysis was based on Eurostat data for 2013. The selection of the study period was dictated by the availability of data – selected results for individual countries: satisfaction with the financial situation, exposure to risk factors, work-related health problems, working in the evenings, number of usual weekly hours of work, employment rates, working at nights, working on Saturdays and long-term unemployment. Satisfaction with the financial situation was a subjective assessment of the respondents in the Eurostat survey and reached a scale of 1 to 10. Furthermore, a partial query of the literature allowed to outline the characteristics of the labour market in existing scientific studies, to indicate the research problem and the importance of the topic in the context of European diversity.
In 2000, there was an increase in the level of GDP in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, but from the social perspective, it did not compensate for their still low-income levels. Despite the relative containment of inflation, real earnings were even falling in the most economically efficient countries of this region of Europe – Hungary and Slovenia. Unemployment remained a key problem for these economies, where only Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia kept their unemployment rate below 10%. Despite the difficult period, especially on the labour market and at some expense of workers, Central and Eastern Europe entered the integration process with the international economy
Roderick Martin and Anamaria Cristescu-Martin, ‘Employment Relations in Central and Eastern Europe in 2000: The Road to the EU’ (2001) 32 Industrial Relations Journal 5, 480. Ewan Carr and Heejung Chung, ‘Employment Insecurity and Life Satisfaction: The Moderating Influence of Labour Market Policies Across Europe’ (2014) 24 Journal of European Social Policy 4, 383. Melike Wulfgramm, ‘Life Satisfaction Effects of Unemployment in Europe: The Moderating Influence of Labour Market Policy’ (2014) 24 Journal of European Social Policy 3, 258.
High unemployment is one of the indicators that most clearly shows the poor condition of the economy and the waste of the most valuable resources. For this reason, it should be the duty of the government to maintain as full employment as possible
Joseph E Stiglitz, Günther Schmid,
Constantly growing competition and technological progress have significantly contributed to increasing pressure on the workforce. In addition, by receiving more demanding tasks by employees and by less and less subjective well-being at work, it has worsened for most European countries
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Peter Cappelli, Silvana Robone, Andrew M Jones and Nigel Rice, ‘Contractual Conditions, Working Conditions and their Impact on Health and Well-Being’ (2011) 12 The European Journal of Health Economics: HEPAC: Health Economics in Prevention and care 5, 429. Elena Bardasi and Marco Francesconi, ‘The Impact of Atypical Employment on Individual Wellbeing: Evidence from a Panel of British workers’ (2004) 58 Social Science & Medicine 9, 1671. Ioannis Theodossiou, ‘The Effects of Low-Pay and Unemployment on Psychological Well-Being: A Logistic Regression Approach’ (1998) 17 Journal of Health Economics 1, 85. Andrew E Clark, ‘Unemployment as a Social Norm: Psychological Evidence from Panel Data’ (2003) 21 Journal of Labor Economics 2, 323. Pilar García Gómez and Angel López Nicolás, ‘Health Shocks, Employment and Income in the Spanish Labour market’ (2006) 15 Health Economics 9, 997.
Working in shifts, performing complex and intensive tasks, and a low level of autonomy also turn out to be frequent factors affecting the higher likelihood of employees having health problems
Elena Cottini and Claudio Lucifora, ‘Mental Health and Working Conditions in Europe’ (2013) 66 ILR Review 4, 958. Simon Folkard and David A Lombardi, ‘Toward a “Risk Index” to Assess Work Schedules’ (2004) 21 Chronobiology International 6, 1063. Ole Giebel and others, ‘A New Approach for Evaluating Flexible Working Hours’ (2004) 21 Chronobiology International 6, 1015. Michael Ingre and others, ‘Variation in Sleepiness During Early Morning Shifts: A Mixed Model Approach to an Experimental Field Study of Train Drivers’ (2004) 21 Chronobiology International 6, 973. Giovanni Costa and others, ‘Flexible Working Hours, Health, and Well-Being in Europe: Some Considerations from a SALTSA Project’ (2004) 21 Chronobiology International 6, 831.
In 2018, the average number of working hours per week for the European Union countries was 40.3 hours
Eurostat, ‘How Many Hours do Europeans Work Per Week?’ (2018) < Schmid (n 13). Axel Hall and Gylfi Zoega, ‘Welfare, Employment, and Hours of Work’ (2019) Economics Discussion Papers < Linda Bell and Richard Freeman, ‘The Incentive for Working Hard: Explaining Hours Worked Differences in the U.S. and Germany’ (Cambridge, MA 2000). Alexander Bick, Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln and David Lagakos, ‘How do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications’ (Cambridge, MA 2016).
European diversity was determined by the historical affiliation of states to the socialist bloc. The empirical results used in the work referred to 30 countries, i.e.: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
As shown in Figure 1, the highest correlation coefficients with the variable determining financial satisfaction were noted in relation to long-term unemployment, the number of usual weekly hours of work and the employment rate. In the examined group of European countries, together with a higher rate of long-term unemployment, a tendency of reduced satisfaction with the financial situation was observed. A similar phenomenon was noted by Markus Gangl, who described a group of people with the lowest qualifications as the most affected by changes in economic conditions. In addition, he stated that in such circumstances, the constantly accelerating growth of professionalization on the labour market also strongly affects those who are just entering the labour market, in particular, those immediately after graduating from higher education
Markus Gangl, ‘Changing Labour Markets and Early Career Outcomes: Labour Market Entry in Europe Over the Past Decade’ (2002) 16 Work, Employment and Society 1, 67. Simone Moriconi and Giovanni Peri, ‘Country-Specific Preferences and Employment Rates in Europe’ (2019) 116 European Economic Review 1.
Figure 1
Correlations between satisfaction with the financial situation and selected labour market factors
Source: own study based on:
Hence, based on collected data, an attempt was made to assess the diversity of countries in relation to the labour market in the case of their belonging to the former socialist bloc. Thus, an additional qualitative variable of belonging was created, dividing the set into two groups.
The results of the obtained model are presented in Tables 1 and 2 and in Figure 2. As Table 2 indicates, the quality of the predictive model has allowed the determination of factors characterizing both groups of European countries. The variable informing about taking up work at night turned out to be a particularly strong determinant. The share of this type of shift work is relatively common in former Eastern Bloc countries. A similar trend is noticeable for working in the evenings and the number of usual weekly hours of work. The differences also emphasize the report in which post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe were grouped as those with the largest number of working hours per year
John Morley and others, ‘Comparative Analysis of Working Time in the European Union’ (2010) <
The odds ratio of the LOGIT model of factors differentiating Western European countries and the former Eastern Bloc
| The number of usual weekly hours of work | 0.131066 | 0.023409 | 0.73383 | 0.020773 |
| Working at night | 4.846148 | 1.202750 | 19.52622 | 0.026446 |
| Working in the evenings | 0.533012 | 0.315653 | 0.90005 | 0.018576 |
Source: own study based on:
Classification of model cases (0 – for Western European countries; 1 – for countries of the former Eastern Bloc)
| Observed: 0 | 19 | 2 | 90.4761905 |
| Observed: 1 | 2 | 6 | 75 |
Source: own study based on:
Figure 2
Normality of LOGIT model residues
Source: own study based on:
The effects of the LOG model for the variable satisfaction with the financial situation
| Constant term | 3.173 | 0.297 | 113.7921 | 0.000000 |
| The number of usual weekly hours of work | −0.0356 | 0.008 | 18.8641 | 0.000014 |
| Work-related health problems | 0.007 | 0.003 | 8.2685 | 0.004034 |
| Long-term unemployment | −0.0198 | 0.0056 | 12.6266 | 0.000380 |
Source: own study based on:
As in the case of different observations in relation to the country's belonging to the former socialist bloc, all previously selected factors were also used in the log model. Its purpose was to explain the diversity of financial satisfaction in individual countries. Of all the variables, three were identified that make it possible to distinguish the level of satisfaction: the number of usual weekly hours of work, work-related health problems and long-term unemployment. As shown in Figure 4, the effects of the log model are particularly visible for the variable satisfaction with the financial situation below the value of 6.5. Subjectively assessed satisfaction with the financial situation decreases as the number of weekly working hours increases. The reason may be difficulties in maintaining a balance between time spent on work and private life. Similar observations are noted by Mark Tausig and Rudy Fenwick – less time spent with the family can result in a general decrease in life satisfaction
Mark Tausig and Rudy Fenwick, ‘Unbinding Time:: Alternate Work Schedules and Work-Life Balance’ (2001) 22 Journal of Family and Economic Issues 2, 101. Ola Sjöberg, ‘Positive Welfare State Dynamics? Sickness Benefits and Sickness Absence in Europe 1997–2011’ (2017) 177 Social Science & Medicine (1982) 158.
Figure 3
Residual normality
Source: own study based on:
Figure 4
Scatter of the LOG model relative to observable values
Source: own study based on:
The article presents selected relationships between satisfaction with the financial situation due to belonging to the former socialist bloc as well as selected features of the labour market. The most important conclusions from the study are as follows:
Of all the factors, the key to the differentiation of the two groups of countries turned out to be the number of usual weekly hours of work, working at nights and working in the evenings. Long-term unemployment, the number of hours worked per week and the employment rate achieves the highest correlation coefficients with the variable determining satisfaction with the financial situation. For the first two variables, the correlation value was negative, and for the last one, positive. Analysis of the examined variables allowed to identify three, which allow distinguishing the level of satisfaction with the financial situation – long-term unemployment, the number of weekly working hours and work-related health problems.
In the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, some issues related to the labour market culture in the Eastern Bloc are still observable. Hence, research on the features of this element of the economy in the context of European diversity is the cognitive basis for determining future directions of development of these countries.