THE MINIMUM WAGE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC.

Minimum wage is a tool for regulating the labor market that, over the long term, causes controversy in the areas of both economic theory and practice. The goal of this paper is to present and analyze key theoretical economic approaches to the functioning of the labor market and the tools used to regulate it. These regulatory tools significantly influence the labor market's allocative efficiency, and we generally consider the institution of minimum wage to be fundamental part of this trend. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on the way it functions economically and non-economically, its consequences, and the concepts used when establishing it. We focus our attention primarily on analyzing the institution of minimum wage in the Czech Republic. However, its wider implications from global and European perspectives are also of interest to us. How does the evolution of minimum wage in the Czech Republic affect employment, unemployment, and the labor market? Does the institution of minimum wage in the Czech Republic tend to have positive or negative economic impact? How do Czech companies perceive the situation of an increase in minimum wage? Our goal for this paper is to find relevant answers to these questions. In addition to theoretical and statistical analysis, our conclusions are based on the results of an empirical survey we conducted, which targeted both private sector companies (spanning different sizes, fields of business, and regions) as well as public sector employers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]