Employment and unemployment as measured by the LFS - 3. quarter of 2022

Employment growth continues to be driven by the sector of services

03.11.2022
Code: 250145-22
 

The total employment increased by 61.9 thousand persons, year-on-year (y-o-y). The number of the unemployed, according to the methodology of the International Labour Organization (ILO), decreased by 24.4 thousand persons. The number of the economically inactive aged 15+ years decreased by 25.7 thousand.

"Continuing increase of the number of employees, by 44.8 thousand, and of the number of the self-employed without employees, by 15.8 thousand, is behind the year-on-year increase of employment. An increase of employment in services was the most contributed to by wholesale and retail trade,” Marta Petráňová, Head of the Unit for Labour Forces, Migration, and Equal Opportunities of the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), explains.

Employment
In the Q3 2022, the seasonally adjusted average number of employed persons increased by 28.8 thousand persons, compared to the Q2 2022.

The number of working persons aged 15+ years increased by 61.9 thousand, y-o-y, i.e. by 1.2% to 5 188.9 thousand. The increase is mainly caused by an increment in the number of working females. Their number is by 47.7 thousand higher, y-o-y. The number of working persons aged 45–64 years considerably increased, by 65.5 thousand.

The number of employees increased by 44.8 thousand persons. The total number of the self-employed increased by 11.9 thousand persons. This overall increase is owing to an increase in the number of the self-employed without employees (own-account workers), namely by 15.8 thousand. The numbers of the self-employed with employees (employers) and of contributing family workers have not changed much.

According to preliminary data for the Q3 2022, the development of employment in individual economic activities (CZ-NACE sections) in the Czech Republic was different1). In the primary sector of agriculture, forestry and fishing, the number of working persons did not change significantly, year-on-year; it increased by 3.3 thousand to 131.1 thousand. In the secondary sector of industry and construction, the number of the employed also remained almost unchanged. The number decreased by 7.0 thousand to 1 883.7 thousand, year-on-year. On the other hand, in the tertiary sector of services, the total employment increased by 58.7 thousand to 3 166.9 thousand. In this sector, the number of working persons especially increased in the section of ‘wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles’ by 22.6 thousand, in ‘human health and social work activities’ by 15.0 thousand, and in ‘transportation and storage’ by 13.8 thousand. 

Along with changes in the structure by economic activity (CZ-NACE section), changes in the structure of working persons by occupation also took place. According to the Classification of Occupations (CZ-ISCO), the number of working persons increased the most in the major group of service and sales workers (by 43.5 thousand), in the major group of professionals (by 10.3 thousand), and in the major group of craft and related trades workers (by 10.0 thousand). An increase also occurred in the major group of managers (by 8.7 thousand).

The development trend in the number of working persons according to the educational attainment is also related to those changes in the employment structure. The highest increase was among working persons with secondary education without A-level examination, by 35.4 thousand to 1 675.8 thousand and among working persons with tertiary education, by 30.0 thousand to 1 400.3 thousand. The number of working persons with primary education stagnated at 218.1 thousand persons. The number of the employed with secondary education with A-level examination decreased by 5.6 thousand to 1 892.9 thousand persons.

The employment rate (the percentage of working persons in the age group of 15–64 years old) increased in the Q3 2022 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year by 1.1 percentage point (p. p.) to 75.9%. The male employment rate increased by 0.8 p. p. to 82.3% and the female employment rate by 1.4 p. p. to 69.1%.

Unemployment
The seasonally adjusted average number of unemployed persons according to the ILO methodology2) decreased in the Q3 2022 by 8.1 thousand persons, compared to that in the Q2 2022.

The total number of the unemployed aged 15+ years was by 24.4 thousand lower, y-o-y, and reached 117.5 thousand persons. The number of the unemployed males decreased by 13.7 thousand to 51.3 thousand and the number of the unemployed females dropped by 10.7 thousand to 66.3 thousand. The number of the unemployed decreased the most in the Moravskoslezský Region (by 7.8 thousand). The number of persons unemployed for one year and longer decreased by 11.1 thousand persons, y-o-y, and reached 30.0 thousand persons.

The general unemployment rate according to the ILO definition in the age group of 15–64 years old (the percentage of the unemployed in the labour force, i.e. in the sum of the employed and the unemployed) decreased, year-on-year, by 0.5 p. p. to 2.3% in the Q3 2022.

In terms of a regional comparison, the general unemployment rate of the 15–64 years old was the highest in the Olomoucký Region (4.1%), in the Karlovarský Region (3.8%), and in the Moravskoslezský Region (3.5%). The biggest decrease in the unemployment rate was in the Moravskoslezský Region (by 1.5 p. p. to 3.5%), in the Plzeňský Region (by 1.4 p. p. to 1.8%), and in the Karlovarský Region (by 1.3 p. p to 3.8%). The Středočeský Region had the lowest unemployment rate in Czechia (1.2%).

Economic inactivity
The number of economically inactive persons aged 15+ years was by 25.7 thousand lower, year-on-year, and amounted to 3 528.5 thousand. The number of economically inactive females decreased by 32.3 thousand, whereas the number of economically inactive males increased by 6.5 thousand. The number of all the economically inactive including children up to 15 years of age decreased by 29.3 thousand to 5 218.4 thousand. 

In the sample survey, data are also collected on persons who do not work and do not seek a job in an active manner and therefore do not comply with the ILO conditions for the unemployed, yet they state that they would like to work. In the Q3 2022, the number of such persons was 56.6 thousand persons, i.e. by 8.0 thousand persons less than in the corresponding period of 2021. The number of persons who are willing to work, however, they are not able to start in a potential job immediately, is relatively high. Only 16.3 thousand of the persons are able to start in a job within a fortnight, at the latest.

Recalculation to the same population structure
The LFSS is a sample survey among households, which is weighted and grossed up to data of demographic statistics. Demographic weights based on the 2021 Population and Housing Census results were also used for recalculation of data for the Q3 2022 for the purpose of a year-on-year comparison. 

________________
1) Data for the economic activities (CZ-NACE sections) may be influenced by the applied methodology of the Labour Force Sample Survey (LFSS). The survey only covers persons living in dwellings (flats), i.e. private households. Data on persons living in collective accommodation establishments are not measured; these establishments often give accommodation to foreign nationals.

2) The ILO methodology defines the unemployed as persons who during the reference period were without a job, did not work an hour for pay or remuneration, and were in an active manner seeking job they would be able to join within fortnight at the latest. This methodology is uniform for all EU Member States and provides internationally comparable data. It has to be taken into consideration that the definition of “the unemployed” by the ILO differs from the definition of “job applicants kept in the register of the labour offices” of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Notes:
Responsible head at the CZSO: Dalibor Holý, Director of the Labour Market and Equal Opportunities Statistics Department, phone number: (+420) 274 052 694, e-mail: dalibor.holy@czso.cz
Contact person: Marta Petráňová, Head of the Unit for Labour Forces, Migration, and Equal Opportunities, phone number: (+420) 274 054 357, e-mail: marta.petranova@czso.cz
Data source: The CZSO, Labour Force Sample Survey (LFSS) conducted in selected private households. Collective accommodation establishments are not included in the survey. The LFSS results for the Q3 2022 have been grossed up to the total population of the Czech Republic using data of the population statistics as at 1 January 2022 and the prediction of the natural population change and of the net migration in 2022.
End of data collection: 25 October 2022
End of preliminary data processing: 31 October 2022
Related Internet-published document: 250129-22 – “Employment and Unemployment in the Czech Republic as Measured by the Labour Force Sample Survey – quarterly data” with the final survey results will be available on the CZSO website by the end of the Q4 2022. (Home – We publish – Catalogue of Products – Employment and Unemployment)
Next News Release will be published on: 3 February 2023

  •      azam110322.docx

  • Annexes:
  • Table 1 Employed persons (status in the main job, absolute numbers, percentages, year-on-year increments, and indices)
  • Chart 1 The employed and the unemployed (absolute numbers)
Archive:
Show all Hide

Published: 03.11.2022
The data are valid as of the release date of the publication.


Contact: Information Services Unit - Headquarters, tel.: +420 274 056 789, email: infoservis@czso.cz