Czech unemployment rises in June, reaching levels last seen in 2017

The Czech employment rate for people between 15 and 64 years of age, seasonally adjusted, reached 74.0% in June 2020, a drop of 1.3 percentage points compared to that in June 2019. The male employment rate was 80.9%; while for women the employment rate was 66.7%, both seasonally adjusted, according to figures from the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ).

The employment rate of persons aged 15–29 years, seasonally adjusted, was 45.4%, in the age group 30–49 years it attained 87.4%, and in the age group 50–64 years it reached 76.2%.

“While numbers of hours worked in June almost returned to usual amounts, the coronavirus crisis is more and more reflected in the unemployment. Comparable number of the unemployed as in June this year was reported for the last time in September 2017. Especially, we can see an increasing number of males seeking work,” Dalibor Holý, director of ČSÚ’s Labor Market and Equal Opportunities Statistics Department, said.

The total number of employed people aged 15–64 years in June was 5,062,700, with 2,826,600 men and 2,236,000 women.

The Czech Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs uses a different methodology, and put June unemployment at 3.7%, which was still the lowest in European Union. The full effects of the coronavirus pandemic on employment are not expected to be reflected in statistics until the fall.