At the beginning of February, the Minister of Labor, Jana Maláčová (ČSSD), informed that unemployment had risen again in January. Without further details, however, she stated at the time that it had risen to 4.4 percent, and according to her, the trend of rising unemployment will probably continue in the coming months.
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Compared to January last year, unemployment increased by 1.2 percentage points. The number of unemployed people increased by 78,837, while the number of vacancies decreased by 15,966.
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To a greater extent, people whose term employment contracts and agreements ended at the end of the year ended up in the records of the authorities in January. Some self-employed people also interrupted their business. “The coronavirus has been particularly active in the sectors first affected by the ordered closures in both the first and second waves. These are areas such as services, hospitality, spas, culture, sales or leisure, including mountain resorts.” said Viktor Najmon, General Director of the Labor Office of the Czech Republic.
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On average, there are still 0.9 applicants per vacancy. However, there are big differences between regions. While in the district of Prague-East it is on average 0.2 applicants, in the Karviná region there are almost ten applicants for one place.
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The month-on-month increase in unemployment was recorded in all 77 districts in January. It rose the most, by 19.4 percent, in the Jindřichův Hradec region. This is followed by the district of Písek, where 18 percent of people were added to the records of employment offices.
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According to BHS economist Štěpán Křeček, there are no mass redundancies due to measures to support the labor market in the Czech Republic. “However, some jobs are transformed into a zombie form and survive only thanks to state support. We can therefore assume that current unemployment data are skewed. We will find out the real situation on the labor market when the labor market support programs are completed. However, this may be accompanied by a jump in unemployment, “he wrote to Novinky.
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