Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
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ATTITUDES TOWARDS LABOUR MARKET<br />
REGULATION IN HUNGARY<br />
The first observation to be made from the<br />
table above is that gender does not influence<br />
the answers of the participants in any interview<br />
period. Educational background, however, had<br />
a significant effect in T1 period: those who<br />
completed vocational school are more likely<br />
to agree with the statement ‘Government<br />
should no do anything against illegal work’<br />
than the reference group. Employment status<br />
influenced answers in the T1 and T2 periods:<br />
the unemployed are more likely to agree<br />
with the statement ‘Government should not<br />
do anything against illegal work’ than the<br />
reference group. While those who are working<br />
full- time are more likely to agree with the<br />
statement ‘Government should prevent all<br />
illegal work’ than the reference group. The<br />
effect of the employment status disappears in<br />
the T3 session.<br />
Regarding age, those over 55 are more likely to<br />
agree with the statement ‘Government should<br />
prevent all illegal work’ than young people in<br />
the representative sample.<br />
We can notice that fewer variables have a<br />
significant effect in the small groups than in the<br />
representative sample. In the pre-deliberation<br />
session, only full-time work and the knowledge<br />
of a foreign language have significant effects<br />
on the dependent variables. Those who speak a<br />
foreign language are more likely to agree with<br />
the statement ‘Government should<br />
prevent all illegal work’ than those<br />
page 190 who do not speak a foreign language.<br />
In the post- deliberation group, only<br />
the 30-55 age group has a significant<br />
effect: they are more likely to agree with the<br />
statement ‘Government should prevent all<br />
illegal work’ than the reference group. The third<br />
hypothesis has been confirmed by these results.<br />
We can draw the conclusion that working<br />
illegally is a defensive strategy of people whose<br />
status is unfavorable in the Hungarian society.<br />
2.9. Government should cut taxes versus<br />
spend more on education, health care and<br />
pensions<br />
Hungary is among the countries where the tax<br />
rates are high. Tax awareness is very low and<br />
people do not know much about the tax system.<br />
In addition, voters in Hungary falsely perceive<br />
the state role in the social sector and the cost<br />
of state programs (Csontos, Kornai, & Tóth,<br />
1996). For example, the majority of people<br />
underestimate the cost of pensions and medical<br />
services, while they overestimate the cost of<br />
social benefits. Sometimes they do perceive the<br />
relationship between social benefits and the<br />
tax rate. This question examined what people<br />
think the government should do: decrease taxes<br />
or spend more on education, health care and<br />
pensions. The respondents were asked to what<br />
extent they agree with the given statement on<br />
a seven degree scale. One indicates that the<br />
respondent totally agrees with the following<br />
statement: Government should decrease taxes even<br />
if this means less funding for education, health care<br />
and pension. Seven means that one totally agrees<br />
with the following statement: Government<br />
should spend more on education, health care and<br />
pension. The results of each questioning session<br />
are shown in Table 42.