Companies plan to hire more in 2025, but struggle to find qualified workers

New research suggests broadly good news for jobseekers and employees in 2025. Over 30 percent of all companies based in the country—large-scale firms in particular—plan to hire more employees next year, and only less than a fifth are considering layoffs. However, businesses are grappling with a growing challenge: finding qualified candidates. Two-thirds of employers report difficulty in filling positions.

"The country's economic growth forecasts are improving, and our data shows that demand for new employees in the first quarter will continue to rise," said Jaroslava Rezlerová, CEO of staffing and recruitment firm ManpowerGroup Czech Republic.

While optimism is high in sectors such as finance, real estate, and IT, the public and non-profit sectors remain the only areas where employers are more likely to lay off staff than hire. Even so, there has been a slight improvement in these sectors compared to last year.

Despite the overall positive outlook, companies cite a long-term talent shortage. "The number of economically active people is decreasing due to demographic trends," Rezlerová explained. Lack of skills—particularly in AI proficiency—is to blame.

The hardest-to-fill positions are in IT and data processing, with 28 percent of employers citing difficulty in finding candidates. Other challenging areas include manufacturing, construction, operations management in logistics and industry, and engineering roles, particularly in the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors.

"The demand for technical and digital skills is growing rapidly, but there is also a rising need for soft skills, making recruitment even more complex," Rezlerová added.

To address the talent gap, some companies are investing in employee retraining, a process supported by the Czech Labor Office. "Although retraining programs have doubled, it is still not enough. Just like we don’t go for preventive medical check-ups, we often neglect our professional qualifications," director of the Labor Office Daniel Krištof said last week.

Krištof noted that workers who are already educated tend to focus more on advancing their skills, particularly those in high-level positions between the ages of 30 and 44. Retraining could also offer workers the opportunity to switch careers and significantly increase their income. For example, a worker transitioning from a lower-paying job to a welder could see their starting salary double from CZK 20,000 to CZK 40,000.

Despite the benefits of job changes and retraining, Krištof pointed out that Czech workers are less likely to switch jobs compared to their European counterparts. "We have a turnover rate of 15 percent, while the EU average is 22 percent,” he said.

Earlier this year, Labor Minister Marian Jurečka estimated that 300,000 job positions would disappear nationwide due to AI within just eight years. According to ManpowerGroup, the gap in demand and supply for advanced analytics and AI roles can be as high as 30-35 percent. This only emphasizes the need to upskill and reskill the workforce at scale and speed, the global agency earlier this year told Expats.cz.