Employment and unemployment in the CR as measured by the LFS - 2. quarter of 2004

Employment

Preliminary results indicate that the seasonally adjusted average number of employed persons increased by 1.5 thousand, compared with the 1st quarter of 2004.

The number of first (main) jobholders reached 4 700.6 thousand on average in the 2nd quarter, which was 39.4 thousand less year-on-year. The number of employed men was 2 654.3 thousand and that of employed women was 2 046.3 thousand.

Prevailing in the number of employed persons were employees (3 881.7 thousand); their number decreased by 10.6 thousand year-on-year. In spite of this decrease, the share of employees in total employment rose by 0.5 percentage points to 82.6%. The decrease mainly occurred in manufacturing (-22.2 thousand); public administration, defence and compulsory social security (-12.9 thousand); and education (-11.5 thousand), also due to a demographic drop in the number of young people in the process of education . Members of producers´ cooperatives decreased by 3.1 thousand to 25.7 thousand.

The number of the self-employed reached 792.9 thousand, which was by 25.8 thousand less year-on-year. Compared to the 2nd quarter of 2003, the percentage of the whole entrepreneurial sphere dropped by 0.4 percentage points to 16.9% of total employment. The number of the self-employed with employees decreased by 10.0 thousand to 188.2 thousand and that of contributing family workers fell by 3.5 thousand to 31.1 thousand. After ten years of growth, the number of the self-employed without employees decreased by 12.3 thousand, most in wholesale and retail trade (-5.2 thousand) and construction (-4.5 thousand), and reached 573.6 thousand; one of the reasons was the introduction of compulsory insurance premium.

The drop in total employment resulted in a relatively sharp decrease in the employment rate (the share of first jobholders in the number of persons aged 15+), which dropped by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year to 54.2 %.

With the drop in the number of first (main) jobholders, the number of second jobs also decreased (by 3.5 thousand to 118.2 thousand). Unlike the main jobs, the self-employed without employees prevail in the latter, accounting for nearly three fifths of all employed persons holding second jobs (59.5%).

Unemployment

The seasonally adjusted average number of unemployed persons according to ILO methodology¹⁾ dropped by 0.4 thousand in comparison with the 1st quarter of 2004.

The number of unemployed persons reached 419.1 thousand, of which 218.9 thousand (52.2%) were women. Compared to the average in the 2nd quarter of 2003, the total number of the unemployed increased by 34.4 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 217.6 thousand (+25.0 thousand), their share in the total unemployed being 51.9%. The growth of long-term unemployment was highly apparent among men in the age groups 20-29 (+10.8 thousand) and 50-59 (+5.8 thousand). The number of persons unemployed for more than four years rose by 9.9 thousand to 63.1 thousand (15.0% of the total unemployed).

General unemployment rate (ILO) reached 8.2 % 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 1.9 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 0.7 points and the registered one by 0.5 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 consid-erable differentiation of unemployment rates calculated for individual levels of education. Low unemploy-ment rates are steadily recorded for university graduates (2.1%) and persons with full secondary education with GCSE (5.2%), while a high unemployment rate is still recorded for persons with basic education (25.9%). The unemployment rate measured for the highly represented group of persons with secondary education without GCSE, including persons with apprenticeship, also stands above the average (9.2%).

Inactivity

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 the ILO conditions for being considered as unemployed, but declare their willingness to work. These economically inactive persons are a potential labour reserve. In the 2nd quarter of 2004, their number amounted to 289.6 thousand, which was by 3.7 thousand more year-on-year. A large number of these persons were found among people up to 24 years (97.9 thousand) who are mainly students or apprentices. The relatively high number of people in the age group 25-34 (52.5 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+: they were 16.8 thousand and 33.1 thousand in the age groups 50-54 and 55-59, respectively, in both groups mostly recipients of disability pension and the unemployed; the age group 60+ was represented by 51.7 thousand, old-age pensioners largely prevailing among persons interested in job.

Analysis - Development of the economic activity of the population in the 2nd quarter of 2004

---

Note

Contact: Ivo Makalous, 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: 15 July 2004

End of preliminary processing: 22 July 2004

The results of LFSS were reweighted to cover the total population of the CR, with reference to the final results of demographic statistics as at 31 December 2003 and forecast of natural increase and migration balance in the 2nd quarter of 2004.

Related publication: 3101-04 Employment and Unemployment in the Czech Republic as Measured by the Labour Force Sample Survey

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.