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Czechoslovakia LABOR FORCE
In 1985 Czechoslovakia's total labor force amounted to about
7.6 million persons. Of these, 46.1 percent were women, giving
Czechoslovakia one of the highest female labor rates in the
world. Almost 88 percent of the population of working age
(between 15 and 59 years of age for men and between 15 and 54 for
women) was employed in 1985. About 37.4 percent of the work force
was in industry, 13.7 percent in agriculture and forestry, 24.3
percent in other productive sectors, and 24.6 percent in the socalled nonproductive (mainly services) sectors (see
table 7,
Appendix A).
During the first two decades following World War II,
redistribution of the work force, especially movement from
agriculture to industry, had provided an influx of workers for
the government's program emphasizing heavy industry. Women also
had entered the work force in record numbers. But falling
birthrates in the 1960s, noticeable first in the Czech lands but
subsequently occurring in Slovakia as well, gave reason for
concern. During the 1970s, the government introduced various
measures to encourage workers to continue working after reaching
retirement age, with modest success. In addition, the large
number of women already participating in the work force precluded
significant increases from this source.
By the mid-1980s, the labor supply was a serious problem for
Czechoslovakia. During the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1981-85), the
work force increased by less than 3 percent. Because
Czechoslovakia's service sectors were less developed than those
of the industrialized countries of Western Europe, during the
1980s employment in services continued to expand faster than
employment in the productive sectors. The expansion placed
additional constraints on industrial enterprises seeking to fill
positions. Some Western observers suggested that the labor
shortage resulted in part from the tendency of many industrial
enterprises to overstaff their operations.
Party and government officials set wage scales and work
norms. As part of reform measures effective after 1980, incentive
rewards represented a larger share of total pay than had
previously been the case. Work norms also increased. Officials
were clearly soliciting a greater effort from workers, in terms
of both quantity and quality
(see Workers
, ch. 2).
In the mid-1980s, most of the labor force was organized and
was represented, at least in theory, by unions
(see
Auxiliary Parties, Mass Organizations, and Mass Media
, ch. 4). The party
controlled the unions, and a major task of the unions was to
motivate workers to work harder and fulfill the plan goals. The
unions served as vehicles for disseminating desired views among
the workers. The principal activity of the trade unions was the
administration of health insurance, social welfare, and worker's
recreation programs.
Data as of August 1987
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