Moving across Borders: The Work Life Experiences of Czech Cross‐border Workers during the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Abstract

The experiences of cross‐border workers (CBWs) and the difficulties they face during the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic have been neglected in previous research. CBWs experience various stressors under normal circumstances, where they are often subjected to unequal working conditions and forced to transition between two different societies. The measures that were introduced in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, including the implementation of physical borders, further worsened the situation for these individuals. Herein, we draw on qualitative interview data from 35 CBWs from the Czech Republic and Germany to explore their experiences of work, stress, support, and their positioning in society during the pandemic. We detail the dissatisfaction felt by CBWs regarding re‐bordering, the lack of coordination in the crisis management, and the lack of support from national governments and the EU. This study provides unique insights into the difficulties and experiences of CBWs in a time of crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst of cross-border cooperation? Lessons learnt for border-regional resilience

“…Chilla, 2022). Böhm (2021) confirms the high relevance of the national level for cross-border development in the Polish-Czech border region, as do Haist and Novotný (2022) in the case of the German-Czech border region. Trust, permanent contact points, border-regional risk analyses, harmonization processes, and joint crisis scenarios and exercises as well as strengthened regional competencies can have 'border resilience-promoting' effects.…”

“…Still, the pandemic shows that the national level is necessary for effective crisis cross-border cooperation and border-regional resilience (cf. Böhm, 2021;Chilla, 2022;Haist & Novotný, 2022). Permanent contact points, border-regional risk analyses, harmonization processes, joint crisis scenarios and exercises, and strengthened regional competencies, as well as simple trust, can have 'border-resilience-promoting' effects.…”

The economic impact of international travel measures used during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review

“…Eight studies report on high-income countries, including the USA,24 Canada,25 26 New Zealand,27 Australia,28 Italy,29 and cross-country studies on North America and European countries 30 31. Six studies report on low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), specifically Thailand,32 Malaysia,33 Ethiopia,16 Poland,34 Czech Republic35 and the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) countries 36. Ten cross-country studies did not select a specific group of countries based on income 37–46.…”

“…Most studies identified in our review focus on the effects of international travel restrictions implemented during early 2020 (n=12) 16 24 26 27 30 32 34–36 41 44 47. The second most studied is the intensity of ITMs in general, using the stringency index of travel measures from the Oxford Coronavirus Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) 33 39 42 43 45.…”

Economic costs of COVID‐19 for cross‐border regions

“…The worsening of this barrier complicated the way people living across international borders within CBRs could travel between countries. Early evidence suggests that the erection of partial measures to contrast the diffusion of COVID‐19 within CBRs has caused a significant decrease in the stock of bilateral trust (Haist & Novotný, 2022 ) in all its forms, in particular increasing trade costs, hampering the diffusion of knowledge, and limiting firm cooperation.…”