Employment and unemployment as measured by the LFS - 3rd quarter of 2020

Total employment in the Q3 2020 decreased by 72.9 thousand persons, year-on-year (y-o-y) and reached 5 233.3 thousand persons. The number of the unemployed, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) methodology, increased by 39.0 thousand persons. The number of the economically inactive increased by 54.9 thousand.

Employment
In the Q3 2020, the seasonally adjusted average number of employed persons increased by 1.1 thousand persons, compared to the Q2 2020.

The number of working persons aged 15+ years decreased by 72.9 thousand persons, y-o-y, i.e. by 1.4%, to 5 233.3 thousand persons. The number of working males decreased by 15.5 thousand persons and the number of working females by 57.4 thousand persons. The number of employees decreased by 60.9 thousand to 4 347.4 thousand. Concurrently, the total number of the self-employed decreased by 12.6 thousand persons due to a decrease in both - the number of the self-employed with employees (employers) by 8.4 thousand and the number of the self-employed without employees (own-account workers) by 4.1 thousand. Employment decreased in all five-year age groups in younger productive age up to 45 years, by 109.9 thousand persons in total. The decrease was considerable especially in females in that age (by 89.6 thousand).

According to data for the Q3 2020, development of employment in individual economic activities (CZ-NACE sections) in the Czech Republic was differing¹⁾. In the secondary sector of industry and construction, employment decreased, y-o-y, by 22.6 thousand to 1 950.1 thousand, mainly due to a decrease in the number of working persons in manufacturing (by 56.7 thousand). On the contrary, the number of working persons increased, y-o-y, in construction (by 22.9 thousand). In the tertiary sector of services, the total employment decreased by 47.7 thousand to 3 145.2 thousand. The number of working persons decreased especially in the section of ‘transportation and storage’ (by 30.9 thousand) and ‘accommodation and food service activities’ (by 24.2 thousand). A marked decrease of employment occurred also in the section of ‘arts, entertainment and recreation’ (by 12.3 thousand). On the other hand, the number of working persons markedly increased in ‘public administration and defence; compulsory social security’ (by 15.4 thousand) and in ‘information and communication’ (by 13.6 thousand). In the primary sector of agriculture, forestry and fishing, the number of working persons stagnated; the number of the employed in the sector was 138.0 thousand. According to the Classification of Occupations (CZ-ISCO), especially the number of service and sales workers and in the major group of clerical support workers decreased in the Q3 2020; on the contrary, the number of workers on the position of professionals increased the most.   

The employment rate (percentage of working persons in the age group 15–64 years) in the Q3 2020 decreased compared to the corresponding period of the previous year by 0.9 percentage point (p. p.) to 74.4%. The male employment rate decreased by 0.4 p. p. to 81.7% and the female employment rate dropped by 1.4 p. p. to 66.7%.

Unemployment
The seasonally adjusted average number of unemployed persons according to the ILO methodology²⁾ increased in the Q3 2020 by 14.3 thousand persons, compared to that in the Q2 2020.

The total number of the unemployed aged 15+ years increased by 39.0 thousand persons, y-o-y, and reached 153.9 thousand persons. Both the number of the unemployed females increased by 17.5 thousand persons to 80.7 thousand persons and the number of the unemployed males increased by 21.5 thousand persons to 73.2 thousand persons. The number of persons unemployed for one year and longer remained almost unchanged, y-o-y, and reached 30.8 thousand persons.

The general unemployment rate according to the ILO definition in the age group
15–64 years (the share of the unemployed in the labour force, i.e. the sum of the employed and the unemployed) increased by 0.8 p. p. to 2.9% in the Q3 2020.

As for regional comparison, the y-o-y increase of the unemployment rate was the highest in the Liberecký Region (by 1.7 p. p., y-o-y, to 3.6%) and in the Hl. m. Praha Region (Capital City of Prague; by 1.5 p. p. to 2.7%). In the Q3 2020, the highest unemployment rate was in the Karlovarský Region (5.4%), the Ústecký Region (4.1%), and the Moravskoslezský Region (3.9%), while the lowest one was in the Jihočeský Region (1.4%).

Economic inactivity
The number of the economically inactive persons aged 15+ years increased by 54.9 thousand, year-on-year, to 3 600.1 thousand. The number of economically inactive females increased markedly more than the number of economically inactive males (the increase in females was by 45.6 thousand and that of males by 9.4 thousand). Especially the number of economically inactive females aged up to 45 years increased (by 45.0 thousand). By educational attainment, they were mainly females with higher education and females with secondary education without A-level examination. The increase in the number of economically inactive males was caused by an increase mainly in the age group of 60+ years (by 12.5 thousand).

Since April 2020, the Czech Statistical Office added to the standard Labour Force Sample Survey questions related to impacts of the coronavirus crisis on the labour market.³⁾ Data for the Q3 2020 immediately reflect certain increase of respondents' optimism during summer months. A negative influence of health and social situation was perceived by less than a half of the self-employed persons (44.7%, i.e. by 15.5 p. p. less than in the Q2 2020). This decrease took place in all economic activities (CZ-NACE sections). Negative statements came most frequently from the self-employed in the section of ‘accommodation and food service activities’ (82.5% in the Q3 2020), the section of ‘arts, entertainment and recreation,’ and further in the sections of ‘other service activities’ and ‘education’.

 Similarly as in the category of the self-employed, the share of negative impacts on the situation decreased also in the group of employees in summer. Compared to spring months, the share of employees perceiving negative influence of the coronavirus crisis decreased by 14.0 p. p. to 29.2%. The share of employees perceiving a negative influence of this crisis was the highest in ‘accommodation and food service activities’ (20.9%) and in ‘arts, entertainment and recreation.’

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1⁾ Data for the economic activities sections may be affected by the applied methodology of the Labour Force Sample Survey. The survey covers only persons living in dwellings (private households). Data for persons living in collective accommodation establishments are not measured. These establishments, however, often give accommodation to foreign nationals.
2⁾ The ILO methodology defines the unemployed as persons who during the reference period were without a job, did not work an hour for pay, and were in an active manner seeking job they would be able to join within two weeks at the latest. This methodology is uniform for all EU Member States and produces internationally comparable data. It should be taken into consideration that the definition of “the unemployed” by the ILO differs from the definition of “job applicants kept in the register of the labour offices” of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
3⁾ For the questions see: analytical report (2501089-20; Czech only) – “Most of working persons perceive impacts of the crisis as temporary” (in Czech: „Většina pracujících vidí dopady krize jako dočasné“) on the website of the CZSO.