The interest of foreigners in working in the Czech Republic is growing. He overtook pre-pandemic numbers

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Employers in the Czech Republic lack a sufficient number of mainly qualified workers. At the end of 2021, 258,000 job seekers were registered at the Labor Office, but employers are currently looking at 350,000 people.

At the same time, most companies perceive the lack of skilled workers as one of the main obstacles to corporate development. in 2022. Lack of staff affects contracts. “There is no one to do them, which increases the production time. Companies then pay fines and become unreliable for customers, “says Miroslav Diro, a spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce. In some cases, companies lose customers who, for example, switch to competing companies from abroad.

In addition, according to Dir, companies often encounter situations where people with qualifications that the employer is not interested in apply for a job with them. Conversely, those whose qualifications companies need have been missing from the market for a long time. “Of course, there are no ‘hands-on’ people and schools also produce people in the labor market that do not need companies,” he says.

In addition, the labor market situation will deteriorate in the next few years due to demographics. More people are retiring than are entering the labor market. “The difference is around 70,000 people a year, and so it should be in the future. The shortage of people on the labor market will not improve in any way, “describes Raiffeisenbank chief economist Helena Horská.

agrees Diro and adds that the situation also results from less interest in apprenticeships. And those who learn usually find another field and do not do the craft after school. According to Horská, the overall situation then increases the pressure on wage growth, but lags behind labor productivity growth. This factor then contributes to rising prices and domestic inflation. However, the tension of the labor market could be resolved by foreigners who come to the Czech Republic

The Ministry of Industry and trade. “The labor market is currently unable to meet the demand of Czech employers. Economic migration and the arrival of qualified foreigners are thus one of the possible solutions to the shortage of workers, “explains Marek Vošahlík, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT).

In addition to the fact that qualified and proven persons from third countries – ie countries outside the EU and Schengen – contribute to solving labor shortages, they also help to develop the Czech economy. “They bring the necessary and important knowledge, which their Czech colleagues can subsequently acquire,” adds Vošahlík

And although According to Vošahlík, “employment of Czech citizens is a priority of employment policy”, it is clear that some places will not be filled by Czechs, as they have not shown interest in them for a long time. The government therefore supports targeted and managed economic migration through the Economic Migration Programs, which seeks to reflect the demand for labor.

on the part of employers, as confirmed by Eva Davidová, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs: “Employers have been demanding a larger influx of foreign workers for a longer period of time. In its program, the government has committed itself to clearly defining the conditions for facilitating the arrival of the workforce. The issue will still be discussed, especially at the tripartite level. “

The Chamber of Commerce states that most employers do not economic migration. Of the 615 employers surveyed, 71 percent think that the Czech economy cannot do without immigrants in a number of professions

Demand for foreign moreover, it is the highest since 2016. “The greatest interest is in workers from Ukraine, up to forty thousand of them can come every year. Furthermore, Czech employers very often look for skilled workers from Belarus, Moldova, Serbia and Kazakhstan, “says Diro, noting that interest in people with longer distances has decreased due to the pandemic.

The number of foreign workers is still growing

Foreigners are key, especially for manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail. Economic migrants in our country most often work as auxiliary workers, workers, craftsmen and repairers, drivers or workers in services and sales.

Foreigners are interested in working in the Czech Republic, their number is constantly growing. The trend was slowed down for a while by the coronavirus pandemic, but according to the Ministry of the Interior, labor migration from third countries returned to the level of 2019 in 2021. In the end, it even surpassed it slightly

Almost 35,000 employee cards were awarded last year, compared to just five,000 seven years ago. “At the end of last year, approximately 171,000 long-term visa and long-term residence permits lived in the Czech Republic due to employment. At the same time, we registered more than 190,000 applications for short-term visas for employment, “said Hana Malá, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Interior.

He recalls that, within the Schengen area, the free movement of its citizens is also possible and that the inhabitants of other EU Member States can come to the Czech Republic at any time and start working there. “Here, however, we come across the fact that the labor market in the Czech Republic is not as attractive for many EU citizens due to wage conditions as labor markets in other Member States can be,” adds Malá .