Employment and unemployment in the CR as measured by the LFS - 1. quarter of 2005

Employment

Preliminary results for Q1 2005 confirm the growth of total employment – the seasonally adjusted average number of employed persons increased by 5.3 thousand on Q4 2004.

The number of first (main) jobholders in Q1 2005 totalled 4 704.4 thousand on average – an increase of 28.5 thousand year-on-year. The number of employed men was 2 665.3 thousand and that of employed women was 2 039.1 thousand. Year-on-year, the employment increased most in ‘construction’ (+25.7 thousand), ‘education’ (+13.3 thousand) and ‘health and social work’ (+11.3 thousand). On the other hand it dropped especially in ‘real estate; renting and business activities’ (-16.1 thousand), ‘wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods’ (-9.5 thousand) and ‘transport, storage and communications’ (-7.8 thousand).

The growth of employment showed itself most in the group of employees whose number increased by 65.7 thousand year-on-year to 3 913.2 thousand and whose proportion in total employment thus notably rose by 0.9 percentage points to 83.2%. Having been dropping for a long time the number of members of producers’ cooperatives increased, too—by 1.0 thousand to 23.9 thousand. The number of the self-employed went on decreasing and recorded a year-on-year drop of 37.9 thousand to 767.3 thousand. Consequently, the proportion of the business sphere in total employment dropped by 0.9 percentage points to 16.3%, the number of the self-employed with and without employees decreasing by 8.5 thousand to 178.2 thousand and by 33.6 thousand to 554.9 thousand, respectively. Of the categories belonging to the business sector, only contributing family workers increased in number—by 4.2 thousand to 34.2 thousand. Employment rate (the proportion of first (main) jobholders in the number of persons aged 15-64) reached 64.1% and was 0.3 percentage points up on its Q1 2004 level.

With the rising number of first (main) jobholders, the number of second jobs decreased by 7.8 thousand to 112.1 thousand year-on-year. Unlike the first (main) jobholders, the self-employed without employees prevail among the second job holders, accounting for more than a half of all the employed persons holding second jobs (54.9%).

Unemployment

The average number of unemployed persons according to ILO methodology¹⁾ decreased by 3.4 thousand on Q4 2004 (seasonally adjusted).

The number of unemployed persons reached 429.3 thousand of which women accounted for 217.0 thousand (50.5%). Compared with the average of Q1 2004, the total number of the unemployed decreased by 14.5 thousand. Employment dropped in the female population only (-15.9 thousand), namely almost in the whole 15-64 working age group. The total number of unemployed men increased by 1.4 thousand year-on-year. Despite the drop in the number of unemployed persons, long-term unemployment continues to develop unfavourably. The number of persons unemployed for one year or more increased by 6.0 thousand on Q1 2004 to 234.4 thousand. Their proportion was higher than half of all the unemployed (54.6%). The number of persons without employment for more than four years increased by 4.2 thousand to 68.2 thousand (15.9% of the unemployed in total).

According to the LFSS results, general unemployment rate according to ILO (in the age group of 15+) was 8.4 % in Q1 2005, decreasing by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year. The different methodology of the survey led to a difference between the level of general unemployment rate (ILO) and the level of the registered unemployment rate by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the CR (MLSA CR). According to the original methodology in force by June 2004, the quarterly registered unemployment rate of the MLSA CR reached 10.5% and decreased by 0.2 percentage points on Q1 2004. According to the new methodology, based on the quantification of available job applicants, the Q1 2005 registered unemployment rate of the MLSA CR was 9.6%.

Most of the unemployed (74.4%) were secondary school graduates without GCSE and individuals with basic education. This fact also showed itself in noticeable differentiation of unemployment rate figures calculated for different educational attainment. Rather a low unemploy-ment rate is steadily recorded for university graduates (2.0%) and persons with full secondary education with GCSE (5.2%), while a high unemployment rate continues to be observed in persons with basic education (27.8%). An above-the-average unemployment rate (9.7%) is measured for a relatively large group of persons with secondary education without GCSE (including persons with vocational education).

Inactivity

The labour force sample survey also collects data on persons who do not have any job and are not seeking a job in an active way and do not thus meet the ILO conditions for being considered as unemployed, but declare their willingness to work. These economically inactive persons are a potential labour reserve. In Q1 2005, their number amounted to 292.6 thousand—an increase of 1.0 thousand year-on-year. A large number of these persons are among people aged 24 or less (98.7 thousand), mainly students or apprentices. A relatively high number of people aged 25-34 (52.9 thousand) results from the interest of women, who are on parental or are housewives, in getting a job. The number of persons interested in employment is high at the age of 50+: 19.2 thousand in the 50-54 age group (mostly disability pension recipients) and 31.5 thousand in the 55-59 age group (persons in normal, early and disability retirement). In the 60+ age group, there were 50.6 thousand of them, old age pensioners largely prevailing among persons interested in job.

Analysis - Development of the economic activity of the population in the 1st quarter of 2005

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Note

Contact: Ivo Makalouš, tel.: (+420) 27405 2159, e-mail: ivo.makalous@csu.gov.cz

Data source: CZSO, Labour Force Sample Survey (LFSS) conducted in sampled households

End of data collection: 21 April 2005

End of preliminary processing: 28 April 2005

The results of LFSS were grossed up to the total population of the CR, using the final results of demographic statistics as at 1 January 2005, already reflecting the changes in the administrative set-up of the CR, and the prediction of natural increase and migration balance in Q1 2005.

Related publication: 3102-05 “Employment and Unemployment in the Czech Republic as Measured by the Labour Force Sample Survey” – to be brought out with final results of the survey by the end of June 2005..

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 related publication of the CZSO for a detailed explanation of differences between the number of the unemployed by ILO and the number of job applicants.