Industrial relations and unemployment benefit schemes in the Visegrad countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Katarína Lukáčová, Lucia Kováčová, Martin Kahanec

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic and technological adjustment increased the risk of unemployment, underemployment and skills mismatch across Europe. These increased risks highlighted the importance of national unemployment benefit schemes for income security. This article examines the role of industrial relations in shaping unemployment benefit regimes in the Visegrad countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We adopted an actor-oriented approach based on desk research and 12 semi-structured interviews with the representatives of trade unions and employers in all the Visegrad countries. Our research showed that the capacities of the trade unions and employers' associations to shape the unemployment benefit regimes were rather limited. State control over social policy remained very strong and shaped the dynamics of industrial relations, without inclusive involvement of social partners. National governments sought to implement measures to protect employment (mainly wage subsidies), rather than to reform existing unemployment support regimes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)229-246
Number of pages18
JournalTransfer: European Review of Labour and Research
Volume28
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • Central and Eastern Europe
  • Unemployment benefits
  • Visegrad countries
  • industrial relations
  • short-time work

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