In January, the number of job seekers increased by 14,038 to a total of 320,516, and the unemployment rate increased to 4.3%. That is 24,970 more when compared to the same period of 2024.
A month-on-month increase in the unemployment rate was recorded in all regions except Prague. Among the districts, unemployment was highest in the districts of Most, Karviná and Bruntál (over 8%), and lowest in the capital and in the districts of Praha-východ, Praha-západ, Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Pelhřimov, Benešov, Zlín and Mladá Boleslav (less than 3%).
January is an annual period of increased unemployment, which was confirmed again this year. At the beginning of the year, seasonal work, employment contracts and temporary contracts are terminated, which leads to a temporary increase in the number of unemployed people. However, in addition to the seasonal factor, announced redundancies across sectors are also reflected in the figures this year. The unemployment rate is likely to rise slightly in the coming months, given our and Germany's economic situation. Indeed, according to the HR Trends 2025 survey, 19% of companies are not planning any changes to their workforce, but will also not temporarily replace those who leave. This suggests a certain degree of optimisation of headcount and costs.
As at the end of January, the Czech Labour Office registered a total of 83,323 vacancies. That is 163,250 fewer than in the previous month and 183,460 fewer than a year ago. However, the data on the number of job vacancies are not comparable month-on-month because the Labour Office has been removing job offers older than six months from the register since the beginning of 2025.
On average, there were 3.8 applicants per vacancy, with the highest number of applicants in the districts of Karviná, Sokolov, Děčín and Hodonín.
According to the latest available data, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate, processed by EUROSTAT for the purposes of international comparison, reached 2.6% in the Czech Republic in October, as compared to 5.8% in the EU27. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Czech Republic was 2.6%, compared to 5.9% in the EU27.
In the 3rd quarter of 2024, the average gross nominal monthly salary* (hereinafter “average salary”) was CZK 45,412, which is CZK 2,973 (7.0%) higher than in the same period in 2023. Consumer prices increased by 2.3% during this period, and real wages increased by 4.6% as a result. The amount of salaries increased by 7.2%, and the number of employees grew by 0.2%. Compared to the previous quarter, the seasonally adjusted average salary grew by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter of 2024.
Compared to the same period of the previous year, the median salary (CZK 40,482) increased by 6.6%, which corresponds to CZK 42,893 for men and CZK 37,824 for women. Eighty percent of employees received salaries between CZK 21,349 and CZK 77,014.
source: MPSV, ČSÚ,
ec.europa.eu
* calculated to the number of employees in the national economy