In January, the number of job seekers grew by 11,256 to a total of 283,059, and the unemployment rate increased to 3.9%. That is 15,983 more when compared to the same period of 2022. The unemployment rate of men and women increased to 3.6% and 4.2%, respectively.
A month-on-month increase in the unemployment rate was recorded in all 77 districts, with the highest increases in the districts of Jindřichův Hradec (18.3%), Chrudim (13.0%), Znojmo (11.4%), Český Krumlov (11.2%), Písek (11.0%), Cheb (10.0%), Klatovy (9.4%), and Rakovník (9.1%).
The unemployment rate grew in January as it did in December. It is an annual fluctuation caused by the end of the seasonal work period and the non-renewal of contracts that expired at the turn of the year. Some companies have resorted to layoffs. Moreover, employers are cautious this year due to their concern about the impact of the energy crisis. Many of them stopped hiring and are waiting to see how the economic situation develops in the first quarter. Instead of recruiting regular employees, companies increasingly prefer to hire agency workers, especially in blue-collar jobs, which brings them a certain degree of flexibility in uncertain times. However, this practice is threatened by legislative changes that will overburden employers with paperwork and unnecessarily complicate the conditions of work based on an agreement. The unemployment rate is likely to keep rising in the months to come, although at a much slower rate than expected by some pessimistic predictions from last autumn. There is no threat of mass layoffs or widespread company collapses. We entered the crisis with a healthy labour market and a low unemployment rate. Moreover, inflation is gradually slowing, which means we can expect that the labour market situation could start to improve mid-year.
As of 31 January 2023, the Czech Labour Office registered a total of 281,141 vacancies. That is 7,506 fewer than in the previous month and 70,539 fewer than in January 2022. On average, there was one applicant for each vacancy, with the highest numbers reported in the districts of Karviná (11.8), Bruntál (6.0), Most (4.6), Jeseník (4.5), Ústí nad Labem (4.2), Děčín (4.1), Opava (3.8) and Žďár nad Sázavou (3.3).
According to the latest available data, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate, processed by EUROSTAT for the purposes of international comparison, reached 2.2% in the Czech Republic in December, as compared to 6.0% in the EU27. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Czech Republic was 2.3%, compared to 6.1% in the EU27.
In the 3rd quarter of 2022, the average gross monthly nominal salary*) (hereinafter “average salary”) reached CZK 39,858, which is CZK 2,295 (6.1%) more than in the same period in 2021. Consumer prices increased by 17.6% during that period, and the real salary consequently decreased by 9.8%. The amount of salaries increased by 7.2%, and the number of employees grew by 1.0%. Compared to the previous quarter, the seasonally adjusted average salary grew by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter of 2022.
Compared to the same period of the previous year, the median salary (CZK 34,993) increased by 6.5%, equalling CZK 37,530 for men and CZK 32,171 for women. Eighty percent of employees received salaries between CZK 18,301 and CZK 62,659.
* calculated to the number of employees in the national economy
source: MPSV, ČSÚ, ec.europa.eu
source: MPSV, ČSÚ, ec.europa.eu