Employment and unemployment in the CR as measured by the LFS - 4. quarter of 2004

Employment

Preliminary results for Q4 2004 confirm that total employment ceased to decrease – the seasonally adjusted average number of employed persons increased by 2.0 thousand persons on Q3 2004.

The number of first (main) jobholders totalled 4 732.9 thousand in Q4 on average – an increase of 7.9 thousand year-on-year. The number of employed men was 2 682.0 thousand and that of employed women was 2 050.9 thousand. Year-on-year, the employment increased most in ‘health and social work’ (+27.4 thousand), ‘construction’ (+12.6 thousand) and ‘wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods’ (+7.4 thousand). On the other hand the total number of employed persons decreased especially in ‘agriculture’ (-14.1 thousand), ‘real estate; renting and business activities’ (-9.6 thousand) and ‘public administration, defence and compulsory social security’ (-9.1 thousand).

Employees accounted for the most part of employed persons (3 929.5 thousand); their number grew by 46.4 thousand on Q4 2003, and their proportion in total employment thus rose by 0.8 percentage points to 83.0%. Members of producers’ cooperatives dropped by 2.4 thousand to 24.1 thousand. The number of all the self-employed reached 779.0 thousand – a drop of 35.9 thousand year-on-year. Compared to Q4 2003, the share of the business sphere in total employment dropped by 0.8 percentage points to 16.5%. The number of the self-employed with and without employees decreased by 5.8 thousand to 187.3 thousand and by 30.6 thousand to 559.8 thousand, respectively. Contributing family workers remained almost the same in number (an increase of 0.5 thousand to 31.9 thousand). Employment rate (the share of first (main) jobholders in the number of persons aged 15-64) stood at 64.5 % and remained at its Q4 2003 level.

With the rising number of first (main) jobholders, the number of second jobs decreased by 6.6 thousand to 114.4 thousand). Unlike the first (main) jobholders, the self-employed without employees prevail among the second jobholders, accounting for nearly three fifths of all the employed persons holding second jobs (56.0%).

Unemployment

The average number of unemployed persons according to ILO methodology1) increased by 3.2 thousand on Q3 2004, seasonally adjusted.

The number of unemployed persons was 420.2 thousand, of which women accounted for 224.4 thousand (53.4%). Compared with the average of Q4 2003, the total number of the unemployed increased by 5.7 thousand. The rise in unemployment only occurred in the male population (+11.4 thousand), namely almost in the whole 15-64 working age group. The total number of unemployed women decreased by 5.7 thousand year-on-year. The total unemployment development was affected first of all by a rise in the number of the long-term unemployed (one year or more), by 14.0 thousand to 219.2 thousand, whose share climbed over half of all the persons unemployed (52.2%). The number of persons without employment for over four years went up by 10.0 thousand to 62.6 thousand (14.9% of the unemployed in total).

General unemployment rate (ILO) derived from the LFSS results was 8.2 % in Q4 2004, growing by 0.1 percentage point on Q4 2003. The different methodology of the survey brought about a difference between the level of general unemployment rate (ILO) and the level of the registered unemployment rate established 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 10.0% and stagnated at the Q4 2004 level. According to the new methodology, based on the quantification of available job applicants, the Q4 2004 registered unemployment rate of the MLSA CR was 9.0%.

Most of the unemployed (73.3%) were secondary school graduates without GCSE and individuals with basic education. This fact also showed itself in the noticeable differentiation of the unemployment rate figures calculated for different educational attainment. Rather low unemploy-ment rates are steadily recorded for university graduates (2.2%) and persons with full secondary education with GCSE (5.3%), while a high unemployment rate continues to be observed in persons with basic education (26.8%). An above-the-average unemployment rate (9.1%) is measured for the relatively large group of persons with secondary education without GCSE (including persons with vocational education).

Inactivity

In the framework of the full harmonization of the national LFSS questionnaire with the EU standard the LFSS also measures 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 Q4 2004, their number amounted to 289.7 thousand – an increase of 10.2 thousand year-on-year. A large number of these persons are among people aged up to 24 (101.3 thousand), mainly students or apprentices. The relatively high number of people aged 25-34 (50.9 thousand) results from a high number of women on parental leave or housewives, who take interest in being employed. The number of persons interested in employment is high at the age of 50+: 18.0 thousand in the age group 50-54 (mostly disability pension recipients) and 30.0 thousand in the age group 55-59 (persons in normal and early retirement and in disability retirement); in the age group 60+ there were 50.9 thousand like them, old-age pensioners largely prevailing among persons interested in job.

Analysis - Development of the economic activity of the population in the 4th quarter of 2004

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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: 14 January 2005

End of preliminary processing: 21 January 2005

The results of LFSS were re-weighted to relate to the total population of the CR, using the final results of demographic statistics as at 31 December 2003 and the prediction of natural increase and migration balance in Q4 2004.

Related publication: 3101-04 Employment and Unemployment in the Czech Republic as Measured by the Labour Force Sample Survey – by the end of February 2005 it will be brought out with final results of the 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.