The 15-year-old Czech has on average exactly 36 years of working life ahead of him. Working life is the time for which he will be active in the labor market – that is, he will be either employed or unemployed (that is, he will be actively looking for a job).
Thus, years of study, years of pension and possibly also the period during which he completely “leaves” the labor market, ie years when he is not officially employed, and at the same time does not register at the labor office as unemployed, are not counted.
Higher retirement
The mentioned figure of 36 years applies to the year 2020. Already in 2018, the average length of working life in the Czech Republic exceeded the average length of working life in the entire European Union (EU).
In the EU as a whole, a 15-year-old had an average of 35.7 years of working life ahead of him last year. The reason for the “overtaking” of the EU is mainly the ongoing extension of the retirement age in the Czech Republic.
At the same time, Czechs have a higher life expectancy at birth than the EU average. According to the latest Eurostat data, those for 2019, Czechs live an average of 79.3 years, while EU residents live 81.3 years.
Too much industry
Unfortunately, Czechs work longer than people in the EU, even though they have a shorter life. However, it cannot be said that they are just working to death. In some cases, this is the case.
The significant share of physically and otherwise demanding industrial production, which is higher in the Czech Republic than in the vast majority of the rest of the EU, certainly does not contribute much to prolonging life expectancy. The Czechia is practically the most industrialized country in the EU.
However, the poor lifestyle of the Czechs, the indulgence of alcohol, the excess of obesity in society and the underestimation of health prevention also play a role.
Pandemic factor
To this we must add the factor of the pandemic, which caused a decrease in working life. In the Czech Republic, it decreased for the first time since 2008, from 36.3 years in 2019 to the mentioned 36 years. In the EU as a whole, it has fallen for the first time since 2000, from 35.9 to 35.7 years.
One reason is that some unemployed people – or the self-employed, who have suspended or terminated their business – simply gave up looking for work because their chances of finding a suitable new job were slim.
So pandemic months do not count towards their working lives at all. Others have taken refuge in the gray zone, for example, so they earn money, but are not officially employed or ranked among the unemployed.
Now Czech men retire at the age of 63 and eight months, as do women if they do not have a child. If they have a child, then sooner – for example, a mother of three retires at the age of 60.
Extending retirement age
The retirement age in the Czech Republic is currently being extended every year, but when it reaches the level of 65, this extension will end. Sobotka’s former government decided to cap the so-called retirement age at the level of 65.
Last year, the current government decided to keep this level as a ceiling, at least until 2024, when another regular five-year reassessment of the meaningfulness of the level of ceilings will take place.
It can be assumed that in the next few years, the average length of working life in the Czech Republic will exceed the level valid for the entire EU. However, it is difficult to achieve working life in the Netherlands, Sweden, or even Switzerland, where it is 41, resp. 42 years, resp. 42.5 years. By contrast, 15-year-old Italians have the shortest working lives ahead of them in the EU, averaging only 31.2 years.
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