According to a report from Grafton Recruitment, the job market in the Czech Republic in 2025 will continue to be characterised by low unemployment, a lack of applicants for a growing number of positions, and continued market pressure to increase wages.
Despite the problems of the German economy and the high level of automation, Czech industry is still recruiting workers, and there is a particularly high demand for production workers, electrical specialists, and artisans, which will only intensify with the expected recovery in the construction industry. As a result, employers will continue seeking qualified workers from abroad.
There are only relatively few positions for which applicants are “queuing up” in the Czech Republic. These include managerial roles, specialist customer service positions, and production positions that do not involve shift work. Employers experience problems filling practically all other job vacancies, which sometimes significantly extends the recruitment process; it is not uncommon for employers to wait up to 4 months for new employees, especially in new or highly specialised professions related to new technologies or processes, such as automation, AI, and sustainability.
Although the significant influence of the German economy, including its ongoing problems, remains constant in the domestic market, and may still influence Czech GDP growth in 2025, it is not expected to affect the local labor market or unemployment rate. According to Grafton’s research, the latter will oscillate around 4%, thanks in large part to the continued healthy growth in many sectors. For example, the automotive industry, which remains crucial for the Czech economy, is still performing far beyond expectations, despite the operational complications for car manufacturers, mainly related to increasing fixed and variable costs. After a slight stagnation in 2024, cautious growth can also be expected in the construction industry, both in infrastructure and residential projects. The energy and arms industries, which also play a significant role in the Czech economy, are seeing long-term and continuous growth.
The need for foreign workers
Despite the predicted slight increase in the Czech unemployment rate, employers will still struggle to find the skills they need, so business groups will continue to call for more liberal rules
around economic migration.
“Czech employers would certainly appreciate positive changes in the rules of economic migration, especially in the area of accelerating and digitising visa policy, accelerating the hiring of foreign labor, and reducing the administrative burden associated with foreign candidates,” said Martin Malo, director of Grafton Recruitment.
Many industries are already dependent on foreign workers; for example, more than 80% of manufacturing companies already employ them to ensure the smooth running of production and fulfillment of orders. They also play an important role in the IT and corporate sectors, where foreign staff make up 43% of the workforce, according to a survey by the ABSL association.
The role of part-time work
According to Grafton, employers can also make the recruitment process easier by adopting a more flexible approach to working hours, and especially part-time work. The introduction of the option to work from home has had a very positive effect in this regard, but there are still many potential applicants on the labour market who, for a variety of reasons, cannot or do not want to work full-time, and often remain unemployed due to a lack of opportunities.
Martin Malo said this was an area that both companies and legislators should pay close attention to, but added that it was uncertain whether there would be further legislative changes in this area in the foreseeable future.
Wages increases above the EU average
For a combination of all the above reasons, Grafton Recruitment’s research expects continued pressure to increase wages. “Although real wages are growing at a rate of around 4% year-on-year, they have not yet caught up with the effects of cumulative inflation over the last four years,” said Malo. “Due to the lack of candidates, which makes the labour market in the Czech Republic a ‘candidate-driven market’, it can be assumed that wages will continue to grow, faster than the average wage growth in the EU.”
2024 in a nutshell
- The most in-demand positions: electrical specialists, mechanics, service technicians, as well as sales controllers, buyers, sales representatives and accountants.
- Positions with the greatest number of applicants: in the regions, mainly managerial roles or customer support specialists; in Prague mainly warehouse workers or pickers.
- Largest number of candidates for the position being filled: 150 interested in the position of customer support specialist in Brno; 100 applicants for the position of warehouse worker in single-shift operation in Prague; 50 candidates for the position of plant manager in Prague.
- Positions that were the most filled: as last year, mainly HR, production operators, and sales representatives.
- Fastest filled position: auxiliary worker in Liberec and receptionist in Brno (within 24 hours); IT specialist in Brno and production operator in Ostrava (within 48 hours).
- Longest time to fill a position: the head of a technical department in Prague could not be found for almost 4 months.
- Fields with the largest wage increase: banking and financial services, corporate and customer services, purchasing and logistics, engineering and production.
- Fields with the smallest (or no) wage increase: IT and construction.
- Most pressing problems for candidates: low salary, lengthy recruitment process, the need to commute.
- Most pressing problems for companies: lack of candidates, employee turnover, high financial expectations of candidates.
