The Czech Republic’s unemployment rate increased to 3.3 percent in July, up from 3.1 percent in June. The Labour Office stated in a press release that 240,706 job seekers are looking for work, approximately 9,500 more than the previous month.

On average, there are 0.8 applicants per vacancy in the Czech Republic. According to the office, this is an expected seasonal fluctuation.

“Although we observe a slight increase in unemployment, it is still a shallow figure, even the lowest in the European Union. Moreover, this is true over the long term, so that we can speak of an excellent result. At present, this is a very positive indicator,” said Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL).

At the end of the first month of this year’s holiday season, there were 313,250 vacancies on offer at the labor offices. Compared to June, there were 6158 fewer. The number of unfilled positions fell by almost 45,000 year-on-year.

Companies’ activity in hiring new employees is lower in the summer period, which is why unemployment has slightly increased, explained Viktor Najmon, director general of the Labour Office.

“The development in the coming months will depend on the course of the war conflict in Ukraine, the number of newly registered job seekers among Ukrainian citizens, the impact of the energy crisis on employers, the ongoing high inflation due to which the cost of production is rising, or the current epidemic situation,” Najmon added.

70 000 working Ukrainians

According to the office’s sources, a total of 97,238 Ukrainian citizens have obtained jobs in the Czech Republic since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February this year until the end of July. But some of them have already returned home or left their jobs. At the end of July, 73,908 Ukrainians with temporary protection were working in the Czech Republic.

Employers are most interested in production and blue-collar workers, and seasonal workers. In the long term, companies lack skilled artisans or information technology professionals.

Improvements in the Karlovy Vary region

Individual regions are faring the worst, with unemployment reaching 5% in the Ústí nad Labem region. In the Moravian-Silesian Region, it is two-tenths of a percent lower. Both areas also had the highest share of unemployed people last year, the ÚP said.

The Pardubice Region, on the other hand, continues to have the lowest unemployment rate (2.3 percent). The situation has changed the most year on year in the Karlovy Vary region, where the share of unemployed people has decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 3.6 percent compared to July 2021.

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