In August, the number of job seekers increased by 3,309 to a total of 286,320, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.8%. That is 25,517 more when compared to the same period of 2023. The unemployment rate remained 3.3% for men and it increased to 4.3% for women.
A month-on-month increase in the unemployment rate was recorded in 64 districts, highest in the districts - Domažlice (by 7.7 %), Třebíč (by 3.4 %), Znojmo (by 3.3 %), Rychnov nad Kněžnou (by 3.2 %), Jihlava (by 3.1 %), Tachov (by 2.9 %), Olomouc (by 2.8 %), Nymburk (by 2.8 %).
August was characterised by a stagnation in the unemployment rate, due to a combination of several conflicting trends. On the one hand, the labour market saw a recovery in the service sector and high demand for manual workers, especially in the automotive industry. On the other hand, people looked for work less during the summer months and firms reduced hiring due to the holiday season and lower demand for seasonal workers. There were also more people reporting to the labour offices, a consequence of seasonal contracts ending and lower demand for middle management.
As at 31 August 2024, the Czech Labour Office registered a total of 263,247 vacancies. That is 1,221 more than in the previous month and 17,960 fewer than in August 2023. On average, there was 1.1 job seeker per vacancy, with the highest numbers reported in the districts of Karviná (10.5), Bruntál (6.0), Hodonín (5.8), Děčín (5.7), Most (4.4), Blansko (4.0), Opava (3.8), Jablonec nad Nisou (3.7).
According to the latest available data, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate, processed by EUROSTAT for the purposes of international comparison, reached 2.7% in the Czech Republic in July, as compared to 5.8% in the EU27. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Czech Republic was 2.7%, compared to 6.0% in the EU27.
In the 2nd quarter of 2024, the average gross nominal monthly salary* (hereinafter “average salary”) was CZK 45,854, which is CZK 2,797 (6.5%) higher than in the same period in 2023. Consumer prices increased by 2.5% during this period, and real wages increased by 3.9% as a result. The amount of salaries increased by 6.5%, and the number of employees grew by 0.04%. Compared to the previous quarter, the seasonally adjusted average salary grew by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter of 2024.
Compared to the same period of the previous year, the median salary (CZK 38,529) increased by 5.8%, which corresponds to CZK 41,540 for men and CZK 35,565 for women. Eighty percent of employees received salaries between CZK 20,652 and CZK 75,570.
source: MPSV, ČSÚ,
ec.europa.eu
* calculated to the number of employees in the national economy