Employment and unemployment in the CR as measured by the LFS - 1. quarter of 2004
The long-term unemployed increase in number
Publication Date: 30. 04. 2004
Product Code: r-3102-04
Employment
Preliminary results indicate that the seasonally adjusted number of unemployed person decreased by 19.7 thousand year-on-year.
The number of first (main) jobholders reached 4 671.0 thousand, which is 68.9 thousand less year-on-year. The number of employed men was 2 638.6 thousand and that of employed women was 2 032.4 thousand.
Prevailing in the number of employed persons were employees (3 843.5 thousand) though their number decreased by 61.5 thousand year-on-year. The share of employees in total employment thus decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 82.3%. The decrease mainly occurred in manufacturing (-31.1 thousand), construction (-20.5 thousand) and education (-20.5 thousand), also due to a demographic drop in the number of young people in the process of education . Members of producers´ cooperatives decreased in number noticeably, by 5.9 thousand to 22.9 thousand.
The number of the self-employed reached 804.2 thousand, which translates into a year-on-year decrease of 1.4 thousand. Compared to the 1st quarter of 2003 the percentage of the whole entrepreneurial sphere grew by 0.2 percentage points to 17.2%. While the number of the self-employed with employees decreased by 16.0 thousand to 186.6 thousand and that of contributing family workers by 3.0 thousand to 29.9 thousand, the number of the self-employed without employees rose by 17.6 thousand to reach 587.8 thousand, most in construction (+7.3 thousand).
The drop in total employment resulted in a relatively sharp decrease in the employment rate (the share of first job holders in the number of persons aged 15+) which dropped by 1.0 percentage point year-on-year to 54.0 %.
With the drop in the number of first (main) jobholders, the number of second jobs also decreased (by 2.4 thousand to 119.9 thousand). Unlike the main jobs, the self-employed without employees prevail in the latter, accounting for over 50% of all employed persons holding second jobs (58.1%).
Unemployment
The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed person according to ILO methodology1) grew by 17.5 thousand in comparison with the 4th quarter of 2003.
The number of unemployed persons reached 443.0 thousand of which women accounted for 232.6 thousand (52.5 %). Compared to the 1st quarter of 2003, the total number of the unemployed increased by 54.7 thousand. The rise in total unemployment was primarily due to a rise in the number of persons unemployed for a long time (one year or more) to 228.0 thousand (+35.0 thousand), their share in the total unemployed being 51.1%. The number of persons unemployed over four years rose by 14.0 thousand to 63.9 thousand (14.4% of the total unemployed)..
General unemployment rate (ILO) reached 8.7 % according to LFSS results. The different methodological approaches to data measurement brought about a difference between the level of general unemployment rate ILO and the level of registered unemployment rate established by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the CR: the latter was 2.0 percentage points up on the former. Differences in these indicators exist practically in all EU Member States, both indicators tending to converge in the CR (the general unemployment rate increased by 1.1 points and the registered one by 0.6 points year-on-year).
Most of the unemployed (74.6 %) were secondary school graduates without GCSE or people with basic education. This fact also led to considerable differentiation of unemployment rates calculated for individual levels of education. A rather low unemployment rate is steadily recorded for university graduates (2.3 %) and persons with full secondary education with GCSE (5.4 %) while a high unemployment rate is still recorded for persons with basic education (25.8 %). The unemployment rate measured for persons with secondary education without GCE, including skilled persons, also stands above the average (10.1 %).
Measured in the framework of full harmonization of the national LFSS questionnaire with the EU standard are also data on persons who do not have any job and are not seeking a job in an active way and do not thus meet ILO conditions for being considered as unemployed, but declare their willingness to work. These economically inactive persons are a potential labour reserve. In the 1st quarter of 2004, their number amounted to 291.4 thousand and decreased by 3.4 thousand year-on-year. A large number of these persons is found among people under 24 (90.1 thousand) who are mainly students and apprentices. The relatively high number of people in the age group 25-34 (53.8 thousand) results from a high number of women on parental leave or housewives who take interest in being employed. The number of these persons increases significantly at the age of 50+: there were 18.0 thousand, 34.6 thousand, and 53.1 thousand of them in the age groups 50-54, 55-59 and 60+, respectively. They mostly included old-age pensioners and recipients of disability pension.
Note
Contact: Ivo Makalous, tel.: (+420) 27405 2159, e-mail: makalous@gw.czso.cz
Data Source: the CZSO, Labour Force Sample Survey (LFSS) conducted in sampled households. Methodological descriptions of LFSS indicators are available here..
End of data collection: 15 April 2004
End of preliminary processing: 22 April 2004
The results of LFSS were reweighted to cover the total population of the CR, with reference to preliminary demographic statistics as at 31 December 2003. This estimate is further refined by the balance of migration for the 1st quarter of 2004.
Related information:
a) publication: 3102-04 Employment and Unemployment in the Czech Republic as Measured by the Labour Force Sample Survey
b) table: Time series of basic LFSS indicators
1) The ILO methodology defines the unemployed as persons who were: (a) without work during the reference week, i.e. neither had a job nor were at work (for one hour or more) in paid employment or self-employment, (b) currently available for work, i.e. were available for paid employment or self-employment before the end of the two weeks following the reference week, and (c) actively seeking work. It should be noted that the definition of “the unemployed” laid down by ILO differs from the definition of job applicants on the register of employment offices. See the above-mentioned follow-up quarterly publication of the CZSO for a detailed explanation of differences between the number of unemployed by ILO and the number of job applicants.