Employment and unemployment in the CR as measured by the LFS - 2. quarter of 2005

Employment

Preliminary results for Q2 2005 confirm the growth of total employment––the seasonally adjusted average number of employed persons increased by 21.9 thousand on Q1 2005.

The number of first (main) jobholders in Q2 2005 totalled 4 750.7 thousand on average––an increase of 50.1 thousand (+1.1%) year-on-year. The number of employed men was 2 701.4 thousand and of employed women 2 049.3 thousand.

The growth of employment showed itself most in the group of employees whose number grew by 76.3 thousand year-on-year to 3 957.8 thousand and whose proportion in total employment thus notably rose by 0.7 percentage points to 83.3%. The number of the self-employed went on decreasing and recorded a year-on-year drop of 24.4 thousand to 768.6 thousand. Consequently, the proportion of the business sphere in total employment dropped by 0.7 percentage points to 16.2%, the number of the self-employed with and without employees decreasing by 8.8 thousand to 179.4 thousand and by 20.9 thousand to 552.7 thousand, respectively. Of the categories belonging to the business sector, only contributing family workers increased in number—by 5.3 thousand to 36.4 thousand. The employment rate (the proportion of first (main) jobholders in the number of persons aged 15-64) reached 64.7% and was 0.5 percentage points up on its Q2 2004 level. The employment rate of men of this age grew considerably (by 1.1 percentage points to 73.3%), while that of women remained at 56.0%.

With the rising number of first (main) jobholders, the number of second jobs fell by 3.5 thousand to 114.7 thousand year-on-year. Unlike the first (main) jobholders, the self-employed without employees prevail among the second job holders, accounting for more than half of all the employed persons holding second jobs (54.3%).

Unemployment

The average number of unemployed persons according to ILO methodology¹⁾ decreased by 4.3 thousand compared to Q1 2005 (seasonally adjusted).

The number of unemployed persons reached 402.1 thousand of which women accounted for 221.9 thousand (55.2%). In comparison with the average for Q2 2004, the total number of the unemployed decreased by 17.0 thousand. The employment dropped in the male population only (-20.0 thousand), primarily in the 20-29 age group. The total number of unemployed women increased by 3.0 thousand year-on-year. A majority of the unemployed (72.5%) includes persons with secondary education without GCSE and with basic education.

While the number of persons unemployed for one year or more dropped by 3.3 thousand to 214.3 thousand year-on-year, their proportion is higher than half of all the unemployed (53.3%) and increased further. The proportion of persons without work for a long time is extraordinarily high in the group of the unemployed with basic education (71.6% of all the unemployed with basic education), and more than half (51.2%) of the unemployed can be found in the group of the unemployed having secondary education without GCSE. The long-term unemployment is not that high in the group of the unemployed with GCSE (41.3%) and the group of persons having university education (34.6% of all the unemployed university graduates). The total number of those unemployed over four years decreased by only 0.9 thousand to 62.2 thousand (15.5% of the total unemployed persons).

According to the LFSS results, the general unemployment rate according to ILO (derived for the age group of 15+) was 7.8% in Q2 2005, decreasing by 0.4 percentage points year-on-year. The different methodology of the survey led to a difference between the general unemployment rate by ILO and the registered unemployment rate by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the CR (MLSA CR). Pursuant to the original methodology in force by June 2004, the quarterly registered unemployment rate by the MLSA CR reached 9.7% and decreased by 0.5 percentage points on Q2 2004. According to the new methodology, based on the quantification of available job applicants, the Q2 2005 registered unemployment rate by the MLSA CR was 8.8%––by 0.2 points lower than a year ago.

The influence of professional qualification causes considerable differentiation to happen in the unemployment rate calculated for different educational attainment. Rather a low unemploy-ment rate is steadily recorded for university graduates (2.1%) and persons having full secondary education with GCSE (5.1%), while a high unemployment rate continues to be observed in persons with basic education (26.9%). An above-the-average unemployment rate (8.6%) still exists in the 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 Q2 2005, their number amounted to 283.2 thousand (a decrease of 6.4 thousand year-on-year). A large number of these persons are found among people aged 24 or less (102.9 thousand), mainly students or apprentices. These young people would welcome, more frequently than a year ago, having appropriate job to carry out when studying at secondary schools or universities. A relatively high number of people aged 25-34 (47.7 thousand) result from the interest of women on parental leave or of housewives in getting a job. The number of persons interested in employment is high at the age of 50+: 19.9 thousand in the age group 50-54 (mostly disability pension recipients) and 31.6 thousand in the age group 55-59 (persons in normal, early and disability retirement). In the age group 60+, there were 46.9 thousand of them, of whom old age pensioners account for a main part of those interested in job.

Analysis - Development of the economic activity of the population in the 2nd 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 July 2005

End of preliminary processing: 28 July 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 Q2 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 September 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.