Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; THE SOCIETY CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7.pdf/16

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frequently been part of everyday life in Eastern Europe.

The mild economic liberalization of Eastern Europe during the early 1960's was manifested in Czechoslovakia by more attention to public welfare and to the production and importation of consumer goods, and much greater improvements in living and working conditions were promised under Dubcek's Action Program with its emphasis on the rights of the individual. Few of Dubcek's proposed reforms were implemented, however, owing largely to the turmoil following the Soviet invasion of 1968. Although the Husak government has tightened central controls over the economy, in addition to suppressing political opposition, it has also undertaken to raise levels of living by substantially increasing the supply of consumer goods. Moreover, expenditures on social security, pensions, housing, and health services have been increased at the expense of funding capital investments and subsidies for state enterprises. As of mid-1973 the government's well publicized interest in popular welfare—Husak has continually reminded the people that they "never had it so good"—appeared to have won qualified and grudging acceptance from the Czechoslovak population.

The monthly cash earnings of both white- and blue-collar workers have increased significantly since the mid-1960's (Figure 8). Owing to the importance attached to industrial expansion and construction, employees in these sectors, as well as transportation workers, have generally earned higher than average incomes. Since the late 1960's, the average earnings of transportation workers have even surpassed those of scientific personnel, who comprise the highest-paid white collar category recorded by the published statistics. The average cash earnings of workers in agriculture have been consistently lower than those paid in the high-priority industries; however, on collective farms, which occupied 56% of the country's farmlands in 1970, the workers are paid both in cash and in kind out of the farms' earnings. Irrespective of the type of occupation, most Czechoslovak workers receive a variety of noncash benefits, including incentive bonuses, which have been particularly effective in stimulating production. Much of the increase in average per capita income, which amounted to 35% for the period from 1960 to 1971, has been attributable to sources other than basic wages.

The rates of personal consumption have risen since the 1960's, primarily as the result of rising per capita income, industrial expansion, and the increasing availability of consumer goods. In 1971 the family of an average urban blue-collar worker expended 32.2% of its income on food, 27.4% on consumer durables, and 18.1% on rent, utilities, and taxes (Figure 9). Households on collective farm spend a smaller proportion for food but a much higher proportion for consumer durables. The relatively large proportion of personal income allotted for food by urban families is offset to some degree by the artificially low rents established by the government. Originally frozen at their prewar levels, most rents have been raised since 1964 to make this sector of the economy viable and to reduce the cost of upkeep.

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