The Risk of the Outflow of Doctors and IT/ICT ... - Outlook Web App

five years) and with a return to the Czech Republic, to be most advantageous. 10 They pay the
specified income tax and contributions to social and health insurance from the wage (income)
provided by the foreign employer and living expenses (consumer expenses) for themselves (or
for people who are staying abroad with them and are financially dependant on them) at the
local level of consumer prices. 11
From this context it ensues that the relations (differentials) of the actual purchasing power
of net (available) earnings between the Czech Republic and the country of temporary
residency are decisive for the income motivation and earnings advantage of a foreign work
migration (see below for more details).
Second: The migration of doctors for work from the Czech Republic to other countries is
commonly realised on the basis of an offer by foreign employers (predominantly
hospitals). The offers and specific conditions of the work contract and any wider living
conditions are mediated by specialised employment agencies. The employment conditions are
agreed upon (contractually stipulated) before the doctor leaves for the other country. The level
of the wage essentially corresponds to the wage systems used in the relevant countries. The
specific offers range widely according to the demands of the foreign employers. Doctors -
migrants thus enter the "primary" labour market protected by labour laws and contractual
relations (including collective ones).
(4) The income position of doctors inside the individual countries is a significant factor
influencing (albeit indirectly) the differential between the earnings of doctors in the Czech
Republic and compared countries. In the Czech Republic the income situation for doctors has
improved with the background of ongoing social changes in the last roughly fifteen years.
Their gross monthly earnings have increased from 1.6 times the average wage level in the
Czech Republic (1992) to slightly more than twice as much at the current time (2004-2005).
This is a position comparable to relations existing in other countries; the ratio of the gross
income of doctors to the national income standard ranges from 1.7 times (Germany, Ireland),
through 2.0 (Austria) to 2.4 (Great Britain). 12
Comparing the average gross nominal earnings of doctors between the Czech Republic and
the analysed foreign countries shows that foreign earnings are several times higher than Czech
earnings (even if there are considerable differences among the countries). 13
10 In the current survey almost two thirds of the doctors - respondents expected a temporary work stay abroad.
11 Some migrants have certain expenses in the Czech Republic (paid for from foreign earnings) which “double”
the expenses abroad (expenses for maintaining a house or flat in the Czech Republic are typical).
12 In the interest of the greatest methodological and content comparability, the earnings of doctors are taken from
statistical information on the earnings of general practitioners and the national standards of average earnings are
specified as the average earnings of manual, single, childless employees in the industrial and commercial service
sectors (sectors C to K of the CZ-NACE classification).
13 Earnings in national currencies converted into CZK by the average annual exchange rate.
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