Recruiters solve the current deficit by looking for new employees among the unemployed, competing for already employed workers with competing companies, addressing graduates of secondary vocational schools and, last but not least, importing foreign labor. However, the facts show that the first three strategies are only modest for industrial companies and companies are increasingly relying on foreign workers. However, some experts warn that the interest of foreigners in working in the Czech Republic may decline next year, due to slowly rising wages combined with high inflation or due to the unstable political situation in their country of origin.
Wages will hardly rise
“We lack people especially in manual professions, but during the year we lack shortages across professions, especially in specific technical fields,” states their spokeswoman Petra Macková Jurásková on behalf of Třinecké železárny. According to her, the lack of people is caused by excess demand over supply in the labor market and generally less interest in technical professions. Continental representatives agree. “We have been observing a shortage of job seekers for the last few years. It is caused by the current population development and the education system, “says spokeswoman Regina Feiferlíková. Both companies advertise dozens of vacancies on their websites for both workers and professionals.
Labor market: Development of unemployment in the Czech Republic since 1989
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Today, the most sought-after positions in industrial companies include skilled machine operators, fitters and repairers. But there is already almost one in four foreigners among them. Although the recruiters of individual companies are trying to adapt their recruitment strategies to the insufficient situation on the domestic market, in reality they cannot do much.
Wages, which, according to current surveys of the Profesia job portal, are heard by a quarter of Czechs today, are growing much more slowly than in other industries. In the dominant manufacturing sector, average wages rose by an average of 5.4 percent year on year in the third quarter, barely covering expected inflation. The growth rate of industries has been slower than in other branches in the last two years since 2018, according to data from the Statistical Office.
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Graduates without internships
There are not many high school graduates who have undergone professional training and are therefore prepared to perform demanding manual occupations. For example, in 2020, 1,269 graduates graduated in mechanical engineering. In addition, the pandemic has contributed to the loss of companies’ contacts with the industries. “During last year’s school year, which was affected by the coronavirus crisis, 23 percent of the fields that work with companies in training lost their ties to the cooperating company. This worsened the conditions for pupils’ adaptation in companies and the acquisition of practical knowledge and skills, because cooperation between companies and schools is crucial for the subsequent application of pupils in these fields in practice, ”describes Kelar.
The pandemic also had an impact on the quality of the graduates. “The limitation of vocational training due to the covid situation mainly affects the practical skills of pupils, which cannot be transferred online. For example, car mechanics, electricians or bakers acquire skills in practical training. This can mean higher costs for companies to train or recruit graduates. The currently functioning cooperation of companies with schools in the field of professional training and practice can reduce these costs, “he states.
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Some industrial companies try to ensure adequate training of candidates on their own. “Last year, we opened a unique training center for 80 million crowns in the chemical complex in Litvínov, which includes not only classrooms but also reduced functional models of production units and a fire safety polygon,” says Michał Chmiel, HR Director of Orlen Unipetrol, which employs 5,000 people. people. A similar approach is taken by the Liberty Ostrava smelter.
“Experienced workers in technical professions are gradually retiring and it is not easy to find qualified young adepts in their place, as studying technical fields is not very popular. That is why we try to educate our own experts and gradually pass on knowledge to them. Those interested in a job can obtain the necessary qualifications and a professional card directly from us, “says Barbora Černá Dvořáková, Head of Communication and External Relations at the Ironworks.
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The share of foreigners is growing
The reservoir of the domestic working-age population has already been exhausted, states the director of the Department of Labor Market Statistics and Equal Opportunities of the Statistical Office Dalibor Holý in this year’s report on the number of employed foreigners in the Czech Republic. “Especially since 2015, unemployment has started to fall to historically low levels. Employment could not increase at all without the influx of foreigners, “he adds.
This is especially true of the manufacturing industry, which had the largest number of foreign workers at the end of 2019. “He worked there more than every fourth foreigner in the Czech Republic. To this it is possible to add a large part of foreigners registered in the section of administrative and support activities, because it hides agency workers, who also largely work in factories, “says Holý.
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Although the pandemic caused a temporary downturn, the lack of people in the local labor market forced companies to return to the original model. While at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, about 6,600 foreigners left the Czech labor market, which corresponds to a year-on-year decrease of three and a half percent, at the end of last year there were again more than at the end of 2019, namely by more than three percent.
The political and economic situation in the workers’ countries of origin will also decide whether foreigners continue to support Czech industry. “Due to wage increases in European countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, from which a large proportion of workers traveled to the Czech Republic, employers have to focus on countries outside the European Union, such as Ukraine,” says Michal Veselý, head of Trenkwalder HR.
But even workers from Ukraine are not sure. According to Grafton Recruitment director Martin Mala, the escalating conflict between Ukraine and Russia may also be a threat to production facilities. “If the Ukrainian army were to be mobilized, which is a topic that is currently very often mentioned, the Czech industry would lose tens of thousands of workers,” comments Malo.
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