Manpower: Czech labour market to continue stagnating

Prague - Stagnation on the Czech labour market will continue in the last quarter of this year as employers are not planning to change their staff numbers markedly, according to results of the Manpower Labour Market Index study.

A total of 87 percent of Czech companies are planning no changes. Five percent of companies are planning to lay off staff, and the same the percentage of companies intend to take on new employees.

The poll was conducted among about 750 Czech firms.

The value of the net labour market index for Q4 is zero.

In the previous quarter, the index stood at plus 1 percent as 7 percent of employers expected a growth in the number of their employees while 6 percent expected a drop.

"Unemployment started to grow in summer despite the fact that the summer season usually means a growing demand for workers in construction, agriculture, accommodation and catering. With the ongoing recession of the Czech economy, the situation on the labour market will continue to stagnate and companies will be more cautious when taking on new employees. Even industry, the strongest sector of the economy, is starting to reduce the number of its employees," Manpower Ceska a Slovenska republika CEO Jaroslava Rezlerova said at Tuesday's press conference.

The net labour market index is the highest in the segments of electricity, gas and water production and distribution (7 percent) and manufacturing (6 percent).

In contrast, the weakest recruitment activities are reported from the manufacturing industry (minus 7 percent) and finance, insurance, real estate and other services to companies (minus 5 percent).

Employers in Bohemia expect negative recruitment conditions (minus 2 percent), employers in Prague are slightly optimistic (2 percent) and employers in Moravia expect stagnation (1 percent).

In global terms, recruitment activities in Q4 are influenced by overall uncertainly on global markets, mainly in Europe, and a slowdown in India, China and Brasil.

Labour market index in CR (in pct):

growth fall without change do not know net labour market index
Q3 2008 6 3 89 2 3
Q4 2008 2 1 96 1 1
Q1 2009 2 6 91 1 -4
Q2 2009 2 4 94 0 -2
Q3 2009 6 5 88 1 1
Q4 2009 3 7 87 3 -4
Q1 2010 3 9 87 1 -6
Q2 2010 4 9 86 1 -5
Q3 2010 5 4 89 2 +1
Q4 2010 6 8 84 2 -2
Q1 2011 4 9 82 5 -5
Q2 2011 7 3 87 3 4
Q3 2011 6 3 90 1 3
Q4 2011 7 6 85 2 1
Q1 2012 5 9 85 1 -4
Q2 2012 6 9 84 1 -3
Q3 2012 7 6 83 4 1
Q4 2012 5 5 87 3 0

Source: Manpower