The Czech government has moved to address the shortage of qualified workers on the country’s labour market. Last Friday, it approved a proposal put forward by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to increase quotas for foreign workers from third countries by 20,000 as of 2024.
According to figures by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Czechia currently recruits around 13,500 foreign workers per year. However, some industries continue to face a serious shortage of labour, either due to a lack of specialists in the field or because Czechs are less interested in the given field of work.
For instance, Czechia’s healthcare sector is currently lacking around 2,000 nurses and experts warn that another 10,000 are due to retire within the next decade. Meanwhile, the country also lacks around 400,000 skilled tradesman, which slows down housing construction as well as commercial and industrial projects.
Marek Vošahlík, head of the press department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, says one of the reasons behind the lack of qualified workers is Czechia’s exceptionally low unemployment rate:
“The unemployment rate in the Czech Republic is one of the lowest in the EU. Czech companies have been lacking qualified employees for a long time.
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Author: Ruth Fraňková