In May, the Czech Republic’s unemployment rate fell by a tenth percentage point to 3.2 percent. There are 235,468 job seekers on the register of the labor offices, 8190 fewer than in April. The number of job vacancies fell by roughly 7,000 compared to the previous month, with employers offering 337,331.
The labor market continues to be affected by seasonal jobs, which are in full swing, especially in construction, gastronomy, tourism, agriculture, and horticulture, but also in forestry, fishing, spas, and mining, said Viktor Najmon, director of the Labour Office of the Czech Republic.
“With the arrival of summer weather, offers of summer jobs are appearing to a lesser extent in the records of the Labour Office of the Czech Republic. However, employers are mostly looking for short-term workers through advertising, job portals, social networks, or their permanent employees,” he added.
According to available sources, 68,855 Ukrainians have been granted temporary protection in the Czech Republic since Russia invaded Ukraine, and 56,388 Ukrainians were working in the country at the end of May.
Most of them are in the Pilsen and Central Bohemia regions and Prague. They often work as assembly workers, construction helpers, production workers, transport workers, or have found seasonal work.
According to Najmon, the arrival of Ukrainians has not significantly affected the labor market.
“They usually take up positions that have been vacant for a long time. So in certain areas, employers have gotten the employees they needed. At the same time, however, it is true that mainly women are/had been coming to the Czech Republic,” Najmon said.
“Which in practice means that they mostly perform physically undemanding activities. In addition, they prefer short-term work opportunities and single-shift work concerning children,” he explained.
The lowest number of unemployed people is in Pardubice
Most people have traditionally been unemployed in the Ústí nad Labem region, where the unemployment rate reached 5.1 percent in May. The Moravian-Silesian area has a three-tenths lower unemployment rate.
The Karlovy Vary region has the third-highest unemployment rate (3.8 percent).On the other hand, the lowest unemployment rate in the country is still in Pardubice, at just 2.1 percent.
The average age of the unemployed increased year on year from 43.1 to 43.8 years.
“In a year-on-year comparison, the share of unemployed people in the age group up to 29 years fell, while the share of those in the 50+ category increased,” the ÚP said.
The most frequently unemployed are people with an apprenticeship without a high school diploma and with primary education. However, the number of job seekers with a training (down by 20 965) and a high school diploma (down by 13 289) fell the most year-on-year.
According to Eurostat, the Czech Republic has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union. In April, it was 2.4 percent, compared to the EU average of 6.2 percent.