Unemployment in the Czech Republic rose at the end of last year. According to data published today by the Labor Office of the Czech Republic (ÚP ČR), 4 percent of people were out of work in December, while 3.8 percent were in November. The Czech Republic last had a higher unemployment rate in the summer of 2017. In December 2019, 2.9 percent of the able-bodied in the Czech Republic were out of work.
On the last day of last year, there were 291,977 job seekers in the Office’s records, almost 76,500 more year-on-year. Compared to November, the number of unemployed increased by almost 17,500. At the end of the year, there were 273,758 job seekers available.
In December, the number of job vacancies increased slightly month-on-month, by 610 to 318,582. In a year-on-year comparison, however, this is a decrease of almost 22,400 vacancies. On average, there are 0.9 applicants per vacancy. However, there are big differences between districts.
The month-on-month increase in unemployment was recorded in all districts in December. Unemployment rose the most, by 24.6 percent, in the Jindřichův Hradec region. In the Prachatice region, 23.7 percent of applicants increased in the records of the Labor Office.
The share of unemployed persons equal to or higher than the national average is reported by 29 regions. The highest unemployment, over 8 percent, was in December in the district of Karviná. This was followed by Bruntál with 6.8 percent unemployed and with a difference of 0.1 percentage point the district of Ostrava-město.
On the other hand, the lowest unemployment rate is recorded by the Labor Office in the Rychnov region, namely 1.9 percent. Unemployment was 2% in the district of Prague-East.
Last year, the development of unemployment was significantly affected by the pandemic of the covid-19 disease, the first cases of which occurred in the Czech Republic on March 1. At the beginning of last year, the Czech labor market was facing a significant shortage of employees. “With the advent of coronavirus, the situation began to change. Especially in the areas that were the first to be affected by the ordered closure. We are talking about services, hospitality, spas, sales, sports clubs, culture and gradually even the automotive industry,” said Viktor Najmon. He added that despite the deteriorating situation, the Czech Republic has the lowest unemployment in the entire European Union.
In the first three months of last year, unemployment in the Czech Republic was still around three percent. It rose to 3.4 percent in April and stood at 3.8 percent from July to September. It fell by 0.1 percentage point in October, but returned to 3.8 percent in November.
