Work and jobs

Wages in Britain are calculated by the hour, day, or week, and are normally received in the form of cash; salaries, earned by more highly qualified employees and fixed on a monthly or yearly basis, are generally paid monthly straight into the employees’ bank accounts. Sometimes payday in the Czech Republic can be twice a month; in the middle of the month people get an advance, an approximation of their earnings and early in the next month they get the rest. The pay packet contains a slip with several figures. From these data the employees can check the size of his gross earnings and his net earnings. The difference between the two is the tax that has been deducted. Family allowances are provided for families with children below certain age limits, both here and in Britain.

In Britain the remuneration in commercial, technical, and professional careers is better than that for manual workers. In the Czech Republic the range of wages and salaries is smaller, but of course the salary in a senior post is much higher than a starting salary. The earnings of star entertainers and certain other successful people exceed the earnings of many persons in top-ranking managerial posts in industry and commerce. In addition to their basic pay people may get various fringe benefits, such as cheap meals in work canteens or luncheon vouchers for meals in restaurants, subsidized holidays, or cheap flats.

Social security in Britain includes such things as sickness benefit, a three-to-four-week holiday pay, a retirement pension, maternity grant and maternity allowance, and unemployment benefit.