Attitudes in times of crisis: an analysis of individual determinants toward immigration in the Czech Republic

Our paper aims to explore the attitudes towards migrants in the Czech Republic in recent years. Scholarly literature pointed out that negative attitudes towards migrants in the labour market can be linked to a perception of unfair competition and mainly the lack of job opportunities in the domestic labour market. This can be particularly evident in times of crisis, when the impact of a negative economic context can have its harder repercussions on the labour market, with a rise in unemployment and increased competition over welfare resources. However, the Czech case represents an interesting opportunity for study, as a country where we can witness highly negative attitudes towards migrants and refugees in the workforce, but also a very low level of unemployment, a generally positive economic growth and a little general reliance of migrants on the welfare state. In this context, we aim to provide an analysis of the attitudes towards migrants in the Czech labour market in times of crisis, which for our timeframe we identify as the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian refugee crisis is of particular relevance as it is the first time the Czech Republic experienced the influx of such a large number of refugees, and also an increased reliance of newly arrived foreigners on state support and welfare provisions. Thus, our research work aims to find a correlation between attitudes towards migrants and socioeconomic (and political) variables that can help explain the apparent uniqueness of the Czech Republic, exploring if and how the context of external crises also had a possible impact on such attitudes. In terms of methods, our analysis is based on largely quantitative research examining individual-level survey data from the Czech panel data survey “Life during the Pandemic” (Život během pandemie), country-level economic data, plus data on the political orientation of parties (GALTAN positions and economic left-right) from the CHES. In particular, we make use of OLS models, comparing across time.