Living conditions of Czech farmers according to the EU statistics on income

Abstract

The article deals with the assessment of income situation of the czech households with the head person working or self-employed in the farm sector. The actual analyses result from initial consideration of the rise and dynamics of income disparities in our country. The primary data source are obtained from the European Union survey project - Statistics on income and Living conditions (EU-SiLc). our reference period, in view of the data availability at the time of the article processing, is represented by the year 2007. The core studied variable is represented by the volume of the income calculated for each household. The information obtained by the study of this variable was complemented by other variables enabling the logical validity check and analysis of the socioeconomic environment of households under examination. The main findings and conclusions are derived from the analysis of the decile and quintile classification of the relevant equivalized income data. The prime goal of the study was to quantify the share of the czech agriculture related households living in the monthly income lower than 60% of the nationwide median value of the income variable under consideration. The households identified with such income position are referred to as the "households-at-risk-of-income poverty". The results are calculated per 1 physical household member, which the authors found more illustrative and easy to understand. The household size equalization procedures according to the EU and the oEcD methodology will follow. This will enable the international comparison of the achieved results.