Prague, July 12 (CTK) – The number of the foreigners working in the Czech Republic, or 323,200 at the end of last year, was much bigger than that during the previous boom, when it was 38,700 smaller, according to the statistics on foreign workers and a government report on preventing illegal employment.
The number of employees from the EU is growing much faster than that of the rest. People from the EU do not need any work permit, but their employer must inform the job office about their being hired.
No work permit is also needed by foreigners from outside the EU if they have a permanent residence or family reunion permit, have been granted asylum, study in the Czech Republic or have blue or green cards.
In the past 15 years, the number of foreign workers more than trebled. In 2001, there were 104,000 of them, and over 323,000 last year.
Over three-quarters of them, 245,300, were from EU countries. Most of them were Slovaks (150,000), followed by Poles, Romanians and Bulgarians.
In addition, roughly 3,700 Germans, 3,300 Britons and 2,600 French had jobs in the Czech Republic.
Last year, 41,850 Ukrainians made up the second strongest group of foreigners on the Czech labour market after Slovaks.
Over three-quarters of them did not need any permit, while 9.650 of them needed it.
The number of workers from outside the EU has been falling. In 2008, almost 81,100 Ukrainians had a job in the Czech Republic.
Since then, their number has roughly halved. Before the recession, most Ukrainians worked here with a permit and only 7,135 of them did not need it.
In all, labour offices registered 143,750 workers from outside the EU at the end of 2008 and the figure fell to about 77,900 by the end of last year.
