Wednesday, 19 August 2026
The Czech labour market continued to expand in the second quarter of 2026, but the latest employment figures point to a broader structural change taking place beneath the headline growth. An ageing workforce, rising educational levels, stronger employment in services and increasing use of part-time work are gradually changing the country’s employment profile.
The number of employed people aged 15 and over increased by 87,200 year-on-year to approximately 5.33 million in the second quarter. Compared with the previous quarter, seasonally adjusted employment increased by around 28,600.
Demographics are becoming an increasingly important part of this development. The average age of an employed person reached 44.8 years, compared with 41.3 years in the second quarter of 2010. The average was slightly higher among women, at 45.4 years, compared with 44.3 years among men.
Older employees are also accounting for a significant proportion of employment growth. The number of working people aged 60 and above increased by 39,500 compared with the same period last year, while employment among those aged 45 to 59 rose by 37,800. Younger workers aged between 15 and 24 also recorded an increase of 22,600, while employment among people aged 25 to 29 declined by 15,100. These movements partly reflect the changing age structure of the Czech population rather than employment conditions alone.
The ageing trend is particularly visible among people running businesses. The average employee was 44.4 years old, while self-employed people without employees averaged 46.3 years. Among entrepreneurs employing other people, the average age reached 50 years. Since 2010, the average age of this latter group has increased by 4.6 years.
At the same time, employment growth is increasingly concentrated in the service economy. Services added around 102,200 workers over the year, taking total employment in the sector to almost 3.39 million. Agriculture, forestry and fishing lost approximately 7,400 workers, while industry and construction together recorded a decline of around 7,800.
Some of the strongest increases were recorded in professional and knowledge-intensive activities. Employment in professional, scientific and technical activities rose by 54,100, or 21.3%, while real estate activities added 8,800 workers, representing an increase of 21.7%. Wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair moved in the opposite direction, with employment declining by 33,300.
Changes are also emerging in the types of jobs being created. The number of managers increased by 27,700 year-on-year, while technicians and associate professionals added 79,300 workers. Employment in craft and related occupations, meanwhile, fell by 52,700.
The educational profile of the workforce is moving in a similar direction. Almost 1.6 million employed people had tertiary education in the second quarter, an increase of 102,500 compared with a year earlier. Employment among people with higher-level secondary qualifications also increased, while the numbers of workers with primary education or secondary education without an equivalent school-leaving qualification declined.
The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 reached 76.1%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous year. The rate was 80.4% among men and 71.7% among women.
Another notable change is the increasing role of shorter working arrangements. Around 549,400 people worked part-time during the quarter, nearly 50,000 more than a year earlier. Compared with 2018, the number has increased by more than 160,000.
Women continue to account for most part-time employment, representing 396,500 of the total. Around 16% of employed women worked reduced hours, compared with 5.4% of men. Among male part-time workers, older employees form an important group, with 64,900 of the 152,900 men working part-time aged 60 or above.
Despite the increase in employment, unemployment also moved moderately higher. Around 163,100 people were unemployed during the quarter, an increase of 17,100 compared with a year earlier. Long-term unemployment reached 50,400 people and accounted for just under one-third of the unemployed population.
The unemployment rate among people aged 15 to 64 consequently increased to 3.1%. Differences between regions remain pronounced. Moravskoslezsko recorded the highest rate at 5.6%, followed by Severozápad at 5.2%. Střední Čechy had the lowest rate at 1.5%, while Prague stood at 2.0%.
For employers, the figures suggest that labour availability increasingly needs to be considered alongside the changing composition of the workforce. Businesses are recruiting from an older population while employment growth is shifting towards services, professional occupations and workers with higher levels of education.
These developments may also have consequences for commercial real estate. Office occupiers competing for skilled employees are likely to place greater importance on accessibility, workplace quality and flexibility, while industrial and construction companies face a different challenge as their traditional labour pool ages and employment in these sectors declines.
The second-quarter figures therefore show a Czech labour market that remains relatively strong but is gradually being reshaped. Employment is growing, yet the expansion is not evenly distributed. Services and higher-skilled occupations are gaining workers, part-time employment is becoming more common and older people are playing a larger role in keeping the labour force supplied.
With the average Czech worker now approaching 45 years of age, demographics are moving from a long-term economic issue to an increasingly immediate consideration for companies deciding where to invest, recruit and expand.
Source: CSO
