Klára Matoušková, 20, is saving for a trip to England before college. It's with a broad smile that 23-year-old Jakub Feige, when asked about his summer plans, says he intends to do nothing much at all. "I'm at home," Feige says, standing in the hallway of Charles University's Philosophical Faculty in Old Town, where he studies history. Home is Jablonec nad Nisou, up north. There he'll ride his bike, he says. He'll play football.

 

But what about a job? What about money?

 

Another smile.

 

"I don't need money."

 

Even in a country that essentially shuts down for much of the summer, Feige might well be the exception among this country's students this summer.

 

School's out, and experts say many young Czechs are foregoing lazy, idle days spent lounging around or hanging out with friends in favor of finding jobs and earning money. While the summer job has long been an institution in the West — it's the rare American high school or college student who hasn't schlepped popcorn, scooped ice cream or flipped burgers during the hot months of July and August — such temporary employment has only come into vogue here in recent years.

 

During the communist era students often worked over the summer, doing seasonal jobs like picking strawberries in what was called a brigáda (or work brigade), but these jobs were often not by choice and certainly weren't thought of as a source of extra income.

 

However, at that time there were far fewer students. A whole crop of universities and colleges has opened in Prague since 1989 to meet demand — and their students are working, if for very different reasons.

 

"The number of students coming to us is incredible," says Monika Polubňáková, an assistant at the Manpower job recruitment agency in Prague. Polubňáková estimates that her agency gets 50 high school and college students a day inquiring about summer jobs.

 

Other recruitment agencies in Prague are reporting similar interest.

 

Experts say students work jobs traditionally associated with the young: They wait on tables, work in fast food restaurants and clothing stores, rip tickets at local cinemas, unpack boxes in warehouses.

 

Experts say in general many students in Europe not only work during the summer months but year-round. While it appears more young Czechs are working than ever before, statistically, fewer young Czechs work compared to their counterparts in other parts of the European Union.

 

According to a recent survey by Eurostat, the European Commission's statistical database, 28 percent of Czechs 15–24 were employed in 2004, compared to the EU average of 36 percent. College-aged Czechs come closer to EU averages. Eurostat says nearly 50 percent of Czechs 20–24 worked in 2004. The EU average was 53 percent.

 

"It is no longer about whether students are willing to work during the summer," says sociologist Petr Matějů. "They simply have to. The cost of their studies keeps increasing, and sociological studies show that parents are willing to finance only 50 percent of these costs."

 

"You have to get a job. You do get a job. You should," says Bibi Duharová, 22, a Slovak studying at the University of New York in Prague (UNYP). "Your parents aren't going to give you the money."

 

You might think the need to work — especially in the long, lazy days of summer — would be a bitter pill for young Czechs to swallow. After all, this is a country where major parts of the economy and state shut down for most of July and August, known to Czechs as the Pickle Season.

 

Kamil Sejnoha, 23, would disagree. Also a UNYP student, Sejnoha will finish his studies in international politics at the end of this month, after which he is heading straight into a job for a German telecommunications company in Prague. Forget holidays. He wants to earn money.

 

"I see it as a waste of time and a waste of cash to do a holiday now," he says. Instead, he wants to wait until he's earned 100,000 Kč ($4,000) and then take a long trip to South America.

 

Then there's Thomas Ricar, 22. He says he doesn't want to miss out on the best part of the year. This UNYP student has tailored his summer work schedule — doing English translations and teaching business English for a private company — to allow for a chunk of time off in the middle of each day.

 

"I want to enjoy some of the sun as well," he says. Later this summer he plans to take three weeks off and backpack through France and Spain.

 

Many Czech students see their summer as a balancing act between relaxation and responsibility. Marian, 26, a Charles University student who did not want to give his last name, says he has a grant to take a seminar this summer, after which he plans to travel in Belarus and Croatia — all part of his doctoral dissertation in Slavic studies.

 

Even though this summer he is focused more on academics, Marian remembers other recent summers where he worked loading and unloading trucks and as an administrative assistant in offices. "You have to have a job for one month, and the other month you can have free time," he says.

 

— Petr Kašpar contributed to this report.