Why do Czechs stay put? The surprising truth about labour mobility
Czechs are among Europe's least mobile workers. OECD and Eurostat data show they are far less likely than many other Europeans to relocate for work, often preferring to commute instead. Regional geographer and university president Jaroslav Koutský believes geography, family ties and long-standing habits all help explain why.
Freedom of movement has been one of the European Union's defining principles ever since Czechia joined the bloc in 2004. The idea was straightforward: workers could move to places where jobs were available, while employers would gain access to a larger pool of labour across the single market.
Example? As then European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit reminded the European Parliament, labour mobility remains central to the European project: "Labour mobility is a crucial element... It is at the heart of a well-functioning single market," Schmit said, adding that mobility is "a fundamental freedom of the European Union." The reality in Czechia, however, looks rather different.
According to OECD and Eurostat data, Czechs are among Europe's least geographically mobile populations. Compared with many neighbouring countries, they are far less likely to move to another region for work. While Austrians, Germans or Swedes relocate much more readily, many Czech workers choose to remain where they live and commute instead.
A small country with strong local ties
Why that is remains open to debate. Jaroslav Koutský, regional geographer and president of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, believes Czechia's geography is part of the explanation.
"Maybe we are a small country. Everything is reachable, so we don't need to change the place of living," Koutský says. "We are very fixed on these links and friendships."
In other words, relatively short travel distances make commuting easier than moving house, while family and social networks encourage people to stay close to where they grew up.
Even university students stay close to home
Koutský sees the same tendency among today's university students. Asked whether students still spend weekends in university towns as they once did, he says the opposite has happened. "It's even worse," he says. "They just come for a lecture. And after the lecture they leave. They go home."
According to Koutský, even students who rent accommodation often prefer returning to their parents whenever possible rather than building a new social life around the university. That behaviour contrasts with countries such as the United States, Britain or France, where leaving home for university is often seen as an important step towards independence.
Whether the Czech pattern is driven primarily by expensive housing, improved transport links or simply a stronger attachment to home remains difficult to quantify. What is clear, however, is that more than twenty years after joining the European Union, many Czechs still make relatively little use of one of its most fundamental freedoms: the freedom to move where the work is.
