Employment in the Czech Republic is rising, especially among young workers, while the number of self-employed business owners is declining. Overall, unemployment is continuing to fall as before the pandemic. Photo Credit: Freepik
Czech Republic, May 18 (BD) – In the first quarter of 2022, the number of workers aged 15 and over in the Czech Republic was lower by 24,900 year-on-year, a drop of 0.5%. This decline was mainly among working men, but the number of young workers under 24 increased by 20,300, of which 13,500 were women. The number of workers aged 45-64 also increased significantly.
The total number of self-employed people decreased by 23,200. This overall reduction was seen due to a decrease in the number of entrepreneurs with employees. The number of self-employed people without employees (working on their own account) did not change. The number of employees and assisting family members also remained unchanged.
Employment decreased in the industry and construction sector by 40,800, with the biggest decline seen in the manufacturing sector, which lost 28,500 staff. In the services sector, total employment increased by 21,700, including 15,600 more in transportation and warehousing, 12,700 jobs added in accommodation, food and beverage services, and 8,300 in cultural, entertainment and recreation activities.
This balanced losses elsewhere in the service sector, such as a 7,400 decline in employment in health care, and 6,500 in information and communication from its high baseline of a year ago due to the pandemic. Continuing the gradual decline in the primary sector of agriculture, forestry and fishing over the past three decades, the number of employees in this sector fell by 6,000 year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, to 130,300.
According to the CZ-ISCO classification of jobs, the number of employees in services and sales and those in the executive class increased more than in other sectors. In contrast, technical and professional workers, clerical workers, and craftsmen and repairmen have decreased.
The overall employment rate, which refers to the number of employees aged 15-64, increased by 1.4 percentage points to 75% in the first quarter of 2022, year-on-year. The increase was 1.3 p.p. for men (to 81.9%), and 1.5 p.p. for women (to 67.8%).
The total number of unemployed people aged 15 and older decreased by 49,000 from the previous year. The number of unemployed women decreased most, by 27,700, while for unemployed men the decrease was slightly smaller. The Central Bohemian region reported the largest decrease in unemployment.
The overall unemployment rate as defined by the ILO in the 15-64 age group fell by 0.9 percentage points from the previous year to 2.5% in the first quarter of 2022.
In total, the number of employed people increased by 115,700 year-on-year, the number of unemployed people decreased by 43,700, and the number of economically inactive people over the age of 15 decreased by 72,000 year-on-year. Relative indicators (rates) are not affected by a change in population size.
