The Czech Statistical Office (CZSO) published the current employment structure of the Czech Republic. The data shows that foreigners make up 14,2% of the workforce with 741,967 registered foreign employees.
A big part of the foreign employees works in administration, customer support service, manufacturing, and construction industries.
Both the number of foreign employees (644,164) and the number of foreign holders of a trade license (97,803) increased year-on-year in 2020, despite the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, CZSO said in its report published this week.
From 2010 to 2019, the proportion of foreigners in the Czech labor market has grown steadily, though the Czech Republic is still below the European Union average in this regard.
The trend was only interrupted last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions (-20,000 by mid-2020). The construction sector, where foreigners make up 28% of the workforce, was the hardest-hit.
Despite this strong increase, the country still has a below-average share of foreigners in Europe compared to its overall population.
The share of non-nationals rose in all sectors of the economy, and even make up the majority of workers (54%) in the administrative and support services sector.
Ukrainians (145,000), Slovaks (121,000) and Vietnamese (62,000) are the main non-Czech nationalities coming to work in the Czech Republic.
A CVVM agency poll found that while Czechs’ acceptance towards foreign workers was growing, non-nationals are still perceived as a threat to local employment by large parts of the population, particularly in areas where unemployment is the highest.
