Wage growth, which has prevailed in the Czech Republic in recent years, is over. As well as dragging employees with various benefits or entry bonuses. Candidates are now mainly concerned with having a job, even at the cost of lower incomes.
Employers can thus choose more, another effect of the current coronavirus crisis is a reduction in turnover, which is related to a lower number of job offers. This follows from a recent survey by Grafton Recruitment and GI Group.
Since 2019, we have been observing a gradual slowdown in the growth of the Czech economy, which was further accentuated this year by the coronavirus pandemic. Although companies have been able to benefit from a number of government support measures, both the Czech economy can be expected to fall by 10 to 15 percent and unemployment to rise to 6 to 10 percent,
says the director of the agency Martin Malo.
In the table below we present an overview of wages in 20 selected professions in three Czech cities and regions.
| Job | Prague and Central Bohemia. region | Brno and South Moravia. region | Ostrava and Moravskoslez. region |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT manager | 100,000 – 150,000 CZK | CZK 80,000 – 120,000 | 60,000 – 85,000 CZK |
| Win / Unix / Linux administrator | 60,000 – 90,000 CZK | 40,000 – 70,000 CZK | 40,000 – 50,000 CZK |
| C / C ++ developer, Java / C | 45,000 – 150,000 CZK | 40,000 – 100,000 CZK | 35,000 – 90,000 CZK |
| Mechanical engineer | 40,000 – 75,000 CZK | 40,000 – 60,000 CZK | 40,000 – 55,000 CZK |
| Production worker / production operator | 25,000 – 35,000 CZK | 18,000 – 28,000 CZK | 17,000 – 26,000 CZK |
| Welder | 30,000 – 45,000 CZK | CZK 27,000 – 40,000 | 25,000 – 32,000 CZK |
| Warehouseman | 25,000 – 33,000 CZK | 22,000 – 30,000 CZK | CZK 21,000 – 25,000 |
| Lorry driver | 35,000 – 65,000 CZK | 30,000 – 50,000 CZK | 28,000 – 40,000 CZK |
| Construction engineer | CZK 35,000 – 55,000 | 40,000 – 55,000 CZK | 40,000 – 55,000 CZK |
| Personal banker | 32,000 – 50,000 CZK | 30,000 – 40,000 CZK | 30,000 – 40,000 CZK |
| Payroll accountant | 35,000 – 50,000 CZK | 30,000 – 45,000 CZK | 26,000 – 40,000 CZK |
| Seller | CZK 20,000 – 30,000 | 18,000 – 28,000 CZK | CZK 20,000 – 26,000 |
| Sales Representative | 30,000 – 50,000 CZK | 30,000 – 45,000 CZK | 26,000 – 40,000 CZK |
| Marketing manager | 60,000 – 100,000 CZK | 50,000 – 80,000 CZK | 50,000 – 80,000 CZK |
| HR manager | CZK 50,000 – 120,000 | CZK 50,000 – 100,000 | 45,000 – 90,000 CZK |
| Receptionist | CZK 20,000 – 40,000 | 24,000 – 32,000 CZK | CZK 20,000 – 30,000 |
| Business lawyer | 40,000 – 120,000 CZK | 40,000 – 80,000 CZK | 40,000 – 70,000 CZK |
| General practitioner | 60,000 – 120,000 CZK | 60,000 – 110,000 CZK | 60,000 – 100,000 CZK |
| Nurse | 25,000 – 50,000 CZK | 25,000 – 35,000 CZK | 25,000 – 40,000 CZK |
| Financial analyst | 40,000 – 70,000 CZK | 35,000 – 60,000 CZK | 35,000 – 50,000 CZK |
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Source: Grafton Recruitment, gross salary including bonuses
The end of the pressure on wage growth is positive for employers, but that’s where the good news ends. Further developments around the coronavirus pandemic and possible government measures are difficult to predict, as is the development of new orders, which means uncertainty and caution for companies in recruiting.
It can be expected that for the rest of the year there will not be much interest in recruiting unqualified candidates, but we will continue to face a shortage of qualified candidates, who used to come from abroad often but had to leave the Czech Republic in many cases due to the pandemic. Cross-border recruitment will therefore still be needed, at a time of rising unemployment,
says Malo.
Job offers are declining even in the required IT, car manufacturers have stopped recruiting
According to him, wages are also stagnant in the area of IT and telecommunications, where there is a long-term shortage of qualified experts. And the number of vacancies in this field has dropped by about a fifth. IT experts are now in greatest demand in the field of e-commerce and data analysis. The increase is also noticeable in the case of administrative positions within the infrastructure, and cloud specialists are also in great demand.
Companies in the automotive industry and those connected with the industry have completely stopped recruiting due to a drop in orders, as well as canceling financial and non-financial benefits. In contrast, pharmaceutical companies grew and recruited new people even during the peak of the pandemic. However, wages did not rise for these employers either.
There are currently plenty of unskilled workers on the market, especially those who previously worked in restaurants and hotels. But companies are still looking for people for qualified positions in production: for example, electricians, welders, etc.
The situation will improve, companies believe
Unemployment has so far risen only slightly, so black scenarios for double-digit growth have not yet been confirmed. In August, the unemployment rate was 3.86 and 281,998 people were out of work. Unemployment thus remained at the same level as in July.
The number of companies planning mass layoffs is also declining. In June, it was announced by 27 employers, in May 2020 it was even 42 employers. In August, 11 mass redundancies were reported.
The fact that companies have not yet laid off large-scale jobs speaks volumes about their lingering optimism that the situation will return to normal in the foreseeable future. This is reflected, among other things, in a recent regular survey by the ManpowerGroup staffing agency.
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According to him, out of 441 employers, 8% plan to hire new people in Q4 this year, 7% lay off workers and 85% of employers do not plan any changes. Companies from the areas of manufacturing, state administration, healthcare, education and culture, transport, warehousing and communications intend to hire new employees.
Employers also hold jobs, thanks in part to state aid. Some of them used the state contribution for wage compensation (kurzarbeit) from the Antivirus program. There were tens of thousands of companies to which the state paid almost CZK 15 billion from March to mid-July. The program will run until the end of October, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is also preparing a bill that would make the kurarbeit enshrined in the law permanently. Under certain conditions, companies could then use it in times of crisis, such as the current one.
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