Podcast UniGR-CBS – Stories of Czech-Bavarian cross-border work
Podcast UniGR-CBS – Stories of Czech-Bavarian cross-border work
Since the early 1990s, large numbers of workers have crossed the Czech-German border daily to work in Bavaria. Today, around 23,500 cross the border for work each day, including almost 22,000 Czech nationals. This workforce is concentrated primarily in the Bavarian border districts of Waidhaus, Furth im Wald and Freyung-Grafenau, where Czech cross-border workers represent between 6% and 9% of all employees. They have become a key part of the regional labour market, particularly in sectors such as crafts, manufacturing, logistics and hospitality.
Johanna Trager, a doctoral student at Charles University in Prague, is studying cross-border employment flows to understand the implications of daily commutes for employees and businesses. Although she uses official statistical data, she argues that structured interviews with cross-border workers and business managers provide much more detailed insights. Her work emphasises the significance of personal networks in cross-border regions. Furthermore, wage differences are not the only factor influencing these commutes.
In the episode ‘Grenzpendeln im Wandel’ of the ON AIR podcast, produced by the UniGR-Centre for Border Studies (UniGR-CBS), the researcher discusses these and other findings. The discussion with Christian Wille (University of Luxembourg) took place during the researcher's three-month research stay at Saarland University, which was part of the UniGR-CBS guest researcher programme.
Podcast episode ‘Grenzpendeln im Wandel’ (in German).
With Johanna Trager (Charles University) and Christian Wille (University of Luxembourg). Podcast ON AIR, UniGR-Centre for Border Studies 2025