ČSÚ: Less than a half of Czech population works

Prague, Feb 5 (CTK) - Less than a half of the Czech population works, according to a Czech Statistical Office (CSU) analysis which shows that 5.6 million (53.2 percent) of people were not economically active in the last quarter of 2009, children included.

Thus the share of working people in the Czech Republic's population stood at 46.8 percent in Q3 2009, while in the same period of 2006 it was 47.3 percent.

There was a significant fall in the past twelve months. In the last quarter of 2008, the share of economically active people reached 48.1 percent.

Social and economic factors are important for this indicator, among them the growth in unemployment in 2009, raising of the retirement age and the fact that people study longer, said CSU analyst Bohuslav Mejstrik.

In the monitored three years, the number of employed grew by 66,000, the number of unemployed by 46,000 and the number of pensioners who do not work by 158,000.

The number of children aged under fourteen increased by 12,000. The analysis shows that the number of unemployed rose by 13.5 percent, while the number of working people increased by only a bit over one percent.

Compared with the last quarter of 2008, 154,000 people were added to the ranks of unemployed last year, a 66.8 percent growth. The number of working people fell by 106,000 (-2.1 percent).

"Even if we take into account that the Czech economy was growing until the year 2008 and that the economic growth may be renewed this year, the overall trend is negative. The burden on the working people in our country is on the rise," Mejstrik warned.

There were 2.3 million pensioners and 880,000 students. The growth in the latter group in the past three years was much slower than by pensioners.

The number of secondary-school students and apprentices fell, while the number of university students increased by 55,000 to 335,000 in 2006-2009.

The CSU made also public a study comparing development of employment with other EU countries. The Czech Republic ranks twelfth in the EU, with a moderately above-average employment.

In the age group of fifteen to 64, unemployment stood at 65.2 percent, while in the EU the average was at 64.8 percent.

Employment of women stands at 56.5 percent in the Czech Republic and at 58.7 percent in the EU. Czech employment of men is above-average.