Since 1990, the STEM Institute for Empirical Research has tracked and evaluated the trends and attitudes shaping Czech society.

People with disabilities (PwDs) are among the most vulnerable groups in the Czech labour market. Although they approach work with the same motivation as the general population, they continue to face various barriers and prejudices. Under current legislation, companies with more than 25 employees are required to ensure that at least 4% of their workforce consists of people with disabilities. Despite this, employment rates among PwDs in the Czech Republic remain low.

To provide a comprehensive understanding of this issue, we are carrying out the project “Empirical Assessment of the Impacts of Legislative Changes in the Employment of People with Disabilities” (TQ01000447), co-funded by the SIGMA programme of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR). The project is jointly implemented by STEM and TREXIMA, with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic (MoLSA) as the application guarantor. The project complements MoLSA’s ongoing activities in this area.

An exclusive survey conducted for Czech Radio shows that the European Union has become an increasingly divisive issue in Czech society in recent years. It is gradually turning into a symbol of whether the Czech Republic has succeeded or failed in the process of globalization.

One of the key findings of the study by the STEM analytical institute is that Czech society is not simply split into two opposing camps – pro-EU and anti-EU – but rather consists of six distinct groups, each differing in the degree of support for the EU and its policies.

Based on a series of data analyses, Different Narratives of One Society by Martin Buchtík explores when the popular narrative of a “divided Czech society” holds true—and where it falls short. The book examines the impact of current phenomena such as social media and accelerating technological change, while also asking why we are so drawn to clear-cut stories and why we need them.

The publication identifies seven largely universal aspects that often underlie the partial narratives and social tensions present in contemporary Czech society. Understanding these aspects can help distinguish between imagined and real concerns, explain differences in everyday storytelling, and shed light on the crisis of politics.

The research and publication were supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – Representation in the Czech Republic and the Masaryk Democratic Academy.

“There is a consensus among the public that climate change is happening and that we should not delay in addressing it. The very process of transformation to low-carbon energy is rather worrying. People are afraid of getting poorer and of the social consequences.” This quote is an apt summary of an extensive research into perceptions of climate change in the Czech society. The main outputs of this research were an analytical report and a practical handbook for conducting social dialogue on the topic of climate change in the Czech Republic.

STEM Institute for Empirical Research and PAQ Research, on assignment from the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, investigated the reasons behind the unusually high proportion of Roma pupils studying in Czech special schools. This research evaluated the success of desegregation measures implemented in response to the groundbreaking judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of D.H. and others versus the Czech Republic.

In cooperation with KPMG Czech Republic, STEM implements long-term tracking of the financial and economic situation of Czech households. In mid-2022, we detected a dramatic deterioration in the subjectively perceived financial health of Czech households when the index fell to its lowest value since 2014. The complicated situation of Czech households at a time of the energy crisis and record inflation is underlined by the fact that, when compared to 2021, this was the sharpest year-on-year decline in the index since 1993.