Prague, Jan 31 (CTK) – The Czech Foreign Ministry will increase its capacities in order to be able to handle up to 20,000 applications for work in the Czech Republic from Ukraine annually, roughly double the current number, Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO) told journalists on Wednesday.
More manpower may also come from Mongolia and the Philippines where the rules similar to those for Ukraine will take effect.
The Foreign Ministry is also examining the labour markets of Serbia and Belarus, Stropnicky said.
The widening of the consular services will cost 50 million crowns, he added.
The ministry is also considering rising the fee for the applications. The government’s decision made on Wednesday also wants to shorten the time needed to deal with the applications.
The quota for the manpower for the Czech agriculture is to rise from the current 572 to 1500 annually, Stropnicky said.
So far, the “Ukrainian regime” for the recruitment of manpower from this country suggested the annual quota of 9600 applications.
For Mongolia and the Philippines, the same limit of 1,000 applications is valid.
The Chamber of Commerce said the processing of an Ukrainian application for a job in the Czech Republic takes seven months on average, but the fresh decision of the government is to shorten this period of time.
“The current periods are a big problem for Czech employers,” the chamber’s deputy head Irena Bartonova Palkova said.
Stropnicky dismissed the reservations about the foreign manpower raised by the trade unions.
“There are no dumpings, they are paid within the usual conditions for salaries,” Stropnicky said, adding that government representatives had discussed the remuneration for foreign manpower with the employers.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, the Czech Republic urgently lacks employees. Hiring workers from abroad is a short-term solution for Czech firms. The Czech education system needs to be changed so that the graduates would correspond to the demands of the labour market more, the chamber said.
Stropnicky agreed on the accelerated recruitment of foreign manpower with Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) when taking up the office last December. Czech employers are increasingly interested in it due to the record low jobless rate.
Babis talked about the need of more foreign workers already when he was finance minister in the previous government that ruled the country in the last four years.
