In relation to the US, would everyday Czech people be considered "poor."? Since the onset of capitalism, how are people's attitudes towards accumulating wealth? Are Czechs motivated to make money? Would they be considered high work ethic people? How have people's attitudes changed since the onset of capitalism, if at all?
Hi, Well, to answer your first question regarding the comparison between Czech and US average wealth... It would be considered that if you come from an average-salary US household, the wealth of a normal Czech household would be substantially lower. The average yearly salary for the entire CR totals about $US17,000, unlike $US39,000 in the USA. IMO, Czech peope on a general basis, have a positive work ethic. You will often find many international employers seeking Czech citizens for employment, particularly in the EU. Ever since CR became part of the European Union in April 2004, many Czech citizens have flocked to other nations including, the UK, Netherlands and Germany in search of greater opportunity and an improved financial income. I hope this answers some of your questions, ~Jason
Posted by Karel on this forum (March 2004): Did you think that the most hard-working nations are Americans or Japanese? Not quite. According to OECD Czechs spend more time at work than any other nation in the world. 1. CR - 1 972 (hours per year, 2003) 2. Poland - 1 956 3. Greece - 1 938 4. Slovakia - 1 814 5. Japan - 1 801 6. Spain - 1 800 7. USA - 1 792 8. Finland - 1 713 9. Portugal - 1 676 10. UK - 1 673 11. Ireland - 1 613 13. Italy - 1 591 14. Sweden - 1 564 15. Austria - 1 550 16. Belgium - 1 542 17. Denmark - 1 475 18. France - 1 453 19. Germany - 1 446 20. Nethelands - 1 354 21. Norway - 1 337
Correct me if I am wrong because I haven't got much experience. In my opinion the Czechs seem to be hard-working and thrifty. They mainly save to have a nice home. I discussed in French with a Czech gentleman about the new Marks & Spencer outlets that have opened in Prague. He said many people couldn't afford their items, and among those who could, they preferred to keep their money for their homes. So I think that although the Czechs like to dress well and confortably, their home always comes first. At the other end of the scale there are spendthrift people, mainly young men, who obviously think money grows on trees. Once I heard this conversation in a tram between a Czech youth and a British tourist. We were controlled. The Czech guy had no ticket, so he was fined. He wanted his friend to pay for it repeating: "it's only 800K!". The British tourist refused explaining it was 800K and that every one of these crowns counted all the more as they were his not the youth's. I found the scene hilarious. :lol:
Again, I'll point out that the statistics Eva reposted here are not meant for direct comparison of annual hours worked between different countries. It is specifically stated by the OED that each country used its own criteria for counting, and therefore the statistics are not consistent across countries (the data is actually meant to track trends in the hours worked in a single country). Having said that, however, the Czechs do indeed (in general) have a high work ethic that is, I would say, comparable to here in the U.S.
In my limited experience of employing Czechs in the UK and a few Czech friends I would say they do have a hard working ethic. However work is kept separate from the other parts of thir life e.g. friends family etc. In the Uk this separation is increasingly blurred with flexible working hours, computer working and mobile technology, which makes statistics misleading. With regards to money it is not the figures that count, but the standard of living. It seems that the cost of eating and drinking both at home and going out and traveling are relatively cheap on a Czech wage but the cost of most consumer goods are expensive.
