Prague - Despite dozens, maybe hundreds of lay-offs owing to the economic slowdown in the country, the unemployment rate in October declined to 5.2 percent, according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
The reason for that is that there are still many jobs unwanted by Czechs, Moravians and Silesians.
The recent survey conducted by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic indicates that there are 300,000 jobs available at the moment.
The Confederation of Industry is a non-political and independent organization that unites employers and entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic in the field of industry and transportation.
No people
"Despite the rather high unemployment rate in September - 8.1 percent - there are jobs that are unwanted on a long-term basis. We are talking about a welder, a bricklayer, a steel construction assembler, a plasterer, a carpenter and a locksmith," said Svatava Baďurová from Ostrava´s Labour Office.
Beside the EU-member state citizens who came to the country in search of jobs, the number of people from non-EU countries has risen as well. "The number of foreigners from developing countries seeking jobs in Ostrava has grown by one third," adds Baďurová.
"The number of work permits issued to foreigners has been steadily on the rise. Every year we issue roughly by 2,000 work permits more than the previous year. Only this year we have issued or prolonged 10,500 work permits," says Ivana Ondráková from Brno´s Labour Office.
Prague´s Labour Office has produced 10,000 more work permits than in 2007.
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Foreigners also represent a significant part of labour force in major cities in the country. Brno has 22,000 foreign workers, which translates into 9 percent of the total number of working positions.
The number of foreign labour force coming from Slovakia, Ukraine, Mongolia and Belarus has remained largely unchanged.
Nonetheless, the potential workers from Vietnam have lately changed the overall statistics of foreign force in the country. "We have been registering an increasing number of Vietnamese. We did not have any and now we have 2,700 of them. It means there are more Vietnamese now registered in our office than Ukrainians," said Magdalena Čadová, analyst from Labour Office in the northwestern city of Ústí nad Labem.
