labor market

The media have experienced a recurring tide of reports about the four-day working week. The topic plays on the right strings - most people are employees and work five days a week.

Unfortunately, we will not celebrate the fifth year of the Bureaucracy Index in the Czech Republic with a reduction in the administrative burden. The bureaucratic burden on small businesses increased by 49 hours year-on-year to 272 hours.

So far, the COVID-19 pandemic has had little effect on the German housing market. It has left barely a mark on real estate prices or rentals. But the pandemic is not over yet, and even if it was: the past months have triggered some developments that will transform our working world and are likely to have a considerable impact on the housing market in the long term.

The Slovak Minister of Finance claims a tax and contribution burden on self-employed people should be increased in order to be “fair“ in comparison to employees. Why can’t we put a sign of equality between these two statuses? Why doesn’t the term “fair“ make sense?

We are pleased to present the fourteenth issue of 4liberty.eu Review, titled “Remote Work: The New Normal?”. This time, our primary focus is on how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work in the CEE region (and beyond) as well as its impact on work-related spehres of our lives.

Both employers and employees were doing their utmost to maintain performance at work relatively uninterrupted – with the aid of online solutions allowing for remote work. And so, we have suffered a lot, but we have also learned a lot.

With the first shipments of vaccines being distributed at the time of writing this article, the question rises: Is it time for the Hungarian workforce to return to the office? Or, perhaps, the days of the traditional workplace are over.

In recent years, there has been a significant growth of an interest in the gig economy built upon the premise of online platforms that connect customers with service suppliers. Platform work brings more opportunities to traditional businesses by closely connecting suppliers and customers and reducing transaction frictions.

Companies now risk losing their attractiveness if they are unable or unwilling to allow home office, as more and more prospective employees are moving away from physical work, which would increase their vulnerability to the virus.

The second lockdown in Lithuania is no different from the first one: there are no clear principles for economic relief, individual groups are fighting for their own interests, and the government is forced to constantly alleviate the emerging effects of the quarantine. But what if lockdowns persisted?