Prague, July 2 (CTK) – Some 300,000 out of over 0.5 million foreigners living in the 10.5-million Czech Republic work, mainly in manual professions, and other 80,000 have a business licence, daily Pravo writes Thursday.
In the past 15 years, about 50,000 foreigners have been granted Czech citizenship, according to the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).
Some 45 percent of the foreigners in the Czech Republic come from the European Union – mainly Slovaks (160,000), Poles (25,000) and Bulgarians (12,000). Out of non-EU countries, citizens of Ukraine prevail (127,000), followed by the Vietnamese (58,000) and Russians (37,000), Pravo writes.
The number of foreigners in the Czech Republic has doubled in the past ten years, Pravo writes.
Highly qualified foreigners, such as physicians, technicians and programmers, as well as top managers are welcomed on the Czech labour market.
The country, whose population is rapidly ageing, is interested in qualified immigrants. However, only some 20,000 foreign experts work in the Czech Republic now, Pravo writes.
Foreigners, mainly Germans, Frenchmen and Slovaks, head about one-third of big firms in the Czech Republic, Pravo adds.
Qualified health care workers can also find jobs easily in the Czech Republic.
On the contrary, unqualified people may face problems to find jobs, according to economic analysts. The Czech labour market may not be able to saturate further tens of thousands of foreigners without qualification and language knowledge.
Czechs with elementary education only cannot find jobs either since the number of unqualified jobs has been decreasing in the Czech Republic, Pravo says.
At present, the Czech Republic is considering accepting hundreds up to thousands of immigrants from Africa and the Middle east who are flowing to Europe. However, the country has no clear analysis of the demand for labour force and the foreigners’ jobs in the Czech Republic, Pravo says.
Experts also point out that the foreigners who command languages ort are able and willing to learn Czech assimilated in the majority society without problems.
On the other hand, unqualified foreign workers who do not understand the Czech language often live in a community of expatriates, which gives them some certainties, Pravo says.
If the Czech Republic does not apply an efficient migration policy with a further influx of foreigners, some closed ghettoes of foreigners might be established spontaneously, the paper writes.
The high number of unemployed Romanies proves that Czech society is not able to efficiently react to groups of citizens facing poverty and unemployment, Pravo writes.
The number of people living in socially deprived localities or “ghettos” in the Czech Republic has been rising. At present, there are 606 such ghettos or excluded houses, streets and neighbourhoods where some 115,000 Czechs live, Pravo writes , referring to a study for the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry.
