Czech unemployment lowest since February 2009

The low unemployment rate confirms the improved condition of the Czech economy.

According to statistics published by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, based on data from the Czech Labour Office, the unemployment rate in the Czech Republic have continued its decrease in October, to 5,9 percent as of October 31, 2015 (compared to 6,0 percent a month earlier and 7,1 percent in October 2014), confirming the growth of the Czech economy.

That’s the best result since February 2009.

At a regional level, the unemployment rate has further decreased in 73 regions over the last month, and has slightly risen in four regions (the highest increase being that of 1,4 percent in Sokolov region).

The unemployment rate remains higher in Northern Bohemia (Ústí nad Labem district 8,9 percent) and Northern Moravia (8,3 percent). Only five regions currently continue to evidence unemployment rate in excess of 10 percent (Most 11,3%, Karviná 11,0 %, Ustí nad Labem 10,6 %, Bruntál 10,4 % and the City of Ostrava 10,1%), however the number has been decreasing even in these regions for several months now.

Approximately 430 thousand job seekers were registered officially by the Labour Office as of the end of October, compared to nearly 442 thousand in September 2015 or nearly 520 thousand a year ago. The number of job offerings through the Labour Office has slightly decreased in October by 1,3 thousand (or 1,2 %) to approximately 107 thousand, however still up by nearly 85 % annually (approx. 58 thousand job offerings in October 2014).

Nearly 38 thousand registered job seekers started a new job in October. The number of new job commencements by registered job seekers decreased by 6,5 thousand compared to September and by approx. one thousand compared to October 2014, partially due to seasonal works.

Approximately 58 thousand job seekers benefited from the supportive measures within the governmental Active Employment Policy (community works, so-called socially beneficial positions and protected positions for handicapped persons) in October 2015.