Thursday, 2 July 2026
The Czech Republic’s unemployment rate stood at 3.2% in May 2026, remaining broadly stable while increasing by 0.2 percentage points compared with the same month a year earlier, according to the Czech Statistical Office.
The seasonally adjusted figures, based on the Labour Force Sample Survey, show that the labour market continues to operate at historically low unemployment levels despite a slight weakening compared with 2025.
The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 reached 75.4% in May, down 0.3 percentage points year-on-year. Employment remained higher among men at 80.1%, compared with 70.8% for women.
The economic activity rate, which measures the share of employed and unemployed people in the working-age population, stood at 77.9%, a marginal decline of 0.1 percentage points from May 2025. The rate reached 82.2% for men and 73.5% for women.
Male unemployment remained lower than female unemployment, with rates of 2.6% and 3.7% respectively.
Dalibor Holý, Director of the Labour Market and Equal Opportunities Statistics Department at the Czech Statistical Office, noted that unemployment has stabilised at 3.2%. He added that the current rate remains substantially below historical levels, standing 0.9 percentage points lower than ten years ago and 4.1 percentage points below the level recorded in May 2006.
Using the internationally comparable methodology applied by Eurostat for the 15–74 age group, the Czech Republic’s unemployment rate measured 2.9% in May 2026, continuing to rank among the lowest in the European Union.
The Labour Force Sample Survey follows International Labour Organization standards and differs from administrative unemployment statistics published by the Czech Labour Office, as it is based on household surveys rather than registered jobseekers.
