Employment and unemployment as measured by the LFS - 4. quarter of 2022

Unemployment rate remained low

The total employment increased by 45.2 thousand persons, year-on-year (y-o-y). The number of the unemployed, according to the methodology of the International Labour Organization (ILO), increased by 1.0 thousand persons. The number of the economically inactive aged 15+ years decreased by 35.2 thousand.

"There were no significant changes on the labour market in Czechia in the Q4 2022. The unemployment rate stagnated. The employment rate increased, year-on-year. Among persons aged 15–64 years, it was 75.8% and among persons in the age group of 25–64 years it even reached 85.4%,” Marta Petráňová, Head of the Unit for Labour Forces, Migration, and Equal Opportunities of the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), explains.

Employment
In the Q4 2022, the seasonally adjusted average number of employed persons increased by 37.7 thousand persons, compared to the Q3 2022.

The number of working persons aged 15+ years increased by 45.2 thousand, y-o-y, i.e. by 1.0% to 5 193.9 thousand. The increase is mainly caused by an increment in the number of working females. Their number is by 30.1 thousand higher, y-o-y. The number of working persons aged 45–64 years considerably increased, by 45.3 thousand.

The number of employees increased by 26.2 thousand persons. The total number of the self-employed increased by 19.0 thousand persons. This overall increase is owing to an increase in the number of the self-employed without employees (own-account workers), namely by 26.5 thousand. The number of the self-employed with employees (employers) decreased by 9.8 thousand. The number of contributing family workers has not changed much.

According to preliminary data for the Q4 2022, the development of employment in individual economic activities (CZ-NACE sections) in the Czech Republic was different¹⁾. In the primary sector of agriculture, forestry and fishing, the number of working persons did not change significantly, year-on-year; it decreased by 3.3 thousand to 130.6 thousand. In the secondary sector of industry and construction, the number of the working persons increased by 29.1 thousand to 1 896.9 thousand, which was influenced by an increased number of persons working in manufacturing, by 23.8 thousand. In the tertiary sector of services, the total employment increased by 19.4 thousand to 3 166.5 thousand, y-o-y. In this sector, the number of working persons especially increased in the section of ‘human health and social work activities’ by 30.9 thousand.    

Along with changes in the structure by economic activity (CZ-NACE section), changes in the structure of working persons by occupation also occurred. According to the Classification of Occupations (CZ-ISCO), the number of working persons increased the most in the major group of service and sales workers (by 35.3 thousand) and in the major group of craft and related trades workers (by 31.9 thousand).

The development trend in the number of working persons according to the educational attainment is also related to those changes in the employment structure. The highest increase was among working persons with tertiary education, by 27.1 thousand to 1 424.2 thousand. The number of working persons with secondary education with A-level examination stagnated at 1 910.9 thousand persons. The number of the employed with secondary education without A-level examination increased by 8.6 thousand to 1 644.5 thousand and the number of working persons with primary education increased by 7.8 thousand to 213.1 thousand persons.  

The employment rate (the percentage of working persons in the age group of 15–64 years old) increased in the Q4 2022 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year by 0.6 percentage point (p. p.) to 75.8%. The male employment rate increased by 0.4 p. p. to 82.2% and the female employment rate by 0.8 p. p. to 69.0%.

Unemployment
The seasonally adjusted average number of unemployed persons according to the ILO methodology²⁾ decreased in the Q4 2022 by 9.5 thousand persons, compared to that in the Q3 2022.

The total number of the unemployed aged 15+ years did not significantly change, year-on-year. The number of the unemployed increased by 1.0 thousand to 117.2 thousand persons. The number of the unemployed males decreased by 1.1 thousand to 54.3 thousand, whereas the number of the unemployed females increased by 2.1 thousand to 63.0 thousand. The number of the unemployed decreased the most in the Jihomoravský Region (by 3.3 thousand). The number of persons unemployed for one year and longer decreased in a more significant way; their number decreased by 22.0 thousand persons, y-o-y, and reached 31.5 thousand persons.

The general unemployment rate according to the ILO definition in the age group of 15–64 years old (the percentage of the unemployed in the labour force, i.e. in the sum of the employed and the unemployed) remained almost unchanged, year-on-year, in the Q4 2022. The unemployment rate was 2.2% and in the corresponding period of the previous year it was 2.3%.

In terms of a regional comparison, the general unemployment rate of the 15–64 years old was the highest in the Moravskoslezský Region (4.2%), in the Karlovarský Region (3.9%), and in the Ústecký Region (3.2%). The biggest decrease in the unemployment rate was in the Pardubický Region (by 1 p. p. to 1.3%). The Jihočeský Region had the lowest unemployment rate in Czechia (1.2%).

Economic inactivity
The number of economically inactive persons aged 15+ years was by 35.2 thousand lower, year-on-year, and amounted to 3 523.1 thousand. The number of economically inactive females decreased by 27.8 thousand; the number of economically inactive males decreased by 7.4 thousand compared to the situation a year ago. The number of all the economically inactive including children up to 15 years of age decreased by 38.8 thousand to 5 212.9 thousand. 

In the sample survey, data are also collected on persons who do not work and do not seek a job in an active manner and therefore do not comply with the ILO conditions for the unemployed, yet they state that they would like to work. In the Q4 2022, the number of such persons was 50.0 thousand persons, i.e. by 13.3 thousand persons less than in the corresponding period of 2021. The number of persons who are willing to work, however, they are not able to start in a potential job immediately, is relatively high. Only 10.8 thousand of the persons are able to start in a job within a fortnight, at the latest.

Recalculation to the same population structure
The LFSS is a sample survey among households, which is weighted and grossed up to data of demographic statistics. Demographic weights based on the 2021 Population and Housing Census results were also used for recalculation of data for the Q4 2022 for the purpose of a year-on-year comparison. 

_____________________
1) Data for the economic activities (CZ-NACE sections) may be influenced by the applied methodology of the Labour Force Sample Survey (LFSS). The survey only covers persons living in dwellings (flats), i.e. private households. Data on persons living in collective accommodation establishments are not measured; these establishments often give accommodation to foreign nationals.
2) The ILO methodology defines the unemployed as persons who during the reference period were without a job, did not work an hour for pay or remuneration, and were in an active manner seeking job they would be able to join within fortnight at the latest. This methodology is uniform for all EU Member States and provides internationally comparable data. It has to be taken into consideration that the definition of “the unemployed” by the ILO differs from the definition of “job applicants kept in the register of the labour offices” of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Notes:
Responsible head at the CZSO: Dalibor Holý, Director of the Labour Market and Equal Opportunities Statistics Department, phone number: (+420) 274 052 694, e-mail: dalibor.holy@czso.cz
Contact person: Marta Petráňová, Head of the Unit for Labour Forces, Migration, and Equal Opportunities, phone number: (+420) 274 054 357, e-mail: marta.petranova@czso.cz
Data source: The CZSO, Labour Force Sample Survey (LFSS) conducted in selected private households. Collective accommodation establishments are not included in the survey. The LFSS results for the Q4 2022 have been grossed up to the total population of the Czech Republic using data of the population statistics as at 1 January 2022.
End of data collection: 23 January 2023
End of preliminary data processing: 27 January 2023
Related Internet-published document: 250129-22 – “Employment and Unemployment in the Czech Republic as Measured by the Labour Force Sample Survey – quarterly data” with the final survey results will be available on the CZSO website by the end of the Q1 2023. (Home – We publish – Catalogue of Products – Employment and Unemployment – Publications)

Published: 03.02.2023
The data are valid as of the release date of the publication.