More than 1,600 workers from abroad were added to the Pilsen Region in October.
Year-on-year, their number increased by almost 1,500. The Labor Office (ÚP) records 69,578 foreigners working in the region as of last October. Most of them are from Ukraine. Another thousands of employee cards are issued to citizens from countries outside the European Union by the Department of Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior. The statistics of the regional labor office do not include their numbers. Pilsen labor market analyst Tomáš Moravec informed about it.
As of October 31, the share of unemployed in the region was 2.6 percent, the lowest in the Czech Republic with three other regions. The offer of vacant jobs has increased again. There are currently 20,800 of them. According to the Czech Statistical Office, almost 610,000 people live in the region, of which 218,200 are employees.
There were 37,900 EU citizens working in the region at the end of October, an increase of 346 in a month, and a year-on-year decrease of almost 1,700. Companies mainly hire assembly and auxiliary workers in production, machine operators and construction workers. In the long term, the largest number of Slovaks work in the region – over 16,300, 80 more than in September. There are almost 8,100 Romanians and 6,400 Bulgarians, which is dozens more for both than the previous month. Workers from the EU, just like Ukrainian refugees since last March, only hand in an information card about their arrival at the Ú.
In October, compared to last year, the largest number of foreigners from non-EU countries with permanent residence in the Czech Republic or a family member with legal residence increased month-on-month. They do not need a work permit, the company just submits an information card to the ÚP. At the end of the month, over 29,600 of them worked in the region, 1,280 more month-on-month and 3,300 more year-on-year. “The increase was due to the validity of Act No. 66/2022 of the Collection, which allows refugees from Ukraine with temporary protection to freely enter the labor market,” said Moravec. The largest number were Ukrainians, almost 25,300 as of October 31, a monthly increase of 1,225, followed by Vietnamese with 2,089 workers and Russians with 395. The number of Vietnamese and Russians stagnated.
There are currently 2,062 foreigners from third countries who obtained a work permit from the labor office in the region, 14 fewer compared to September, and 182 fewer year-on-year. These are mainly short-term work permits of up to three months. Most of the classic permits in the employee card regime, which serve as residence and work permits at the same time, are handled by the Ministry of the Interior and are not included in regional statistics.
Source: ČTK
