Unemployment in Prague drops

Unemployment in Prague after four months of stagnation has fallen to 2.7 percent. The number of open jobs in September decreased slightly to 38,403 from 38,775 in August. The number of open jobs increased from January to August.

The number of nonworking people in Prague decreased by about 6 percent to 24,767 in September, month on month, with some 22,898 were between the ages of 15 and 64 and available to work immediately. Of those, 12,236 were women.

Unemployment in the entire Czech Republic in September was 3.8 percent, down from 4 percent in August. Overall, the number of job seekers nationwide was 284,915.

The Czech Republic has a total population 10.6 million, while Prague has 1.3 million, according to the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ).

The region with the lowest unemployment was Plzeň, with 2.5 percent, followed by Pardubice with 2.6 percent. Tied with Prague at 2.7 percent were South Bohemia and Hradec Králové.

The highest rates were in the Moravia-Silesia region with 5.9 percent, the Ústí nad Labem region with 5.8 percent and South Moravia with 4.5 percent.

The district with the lowest unemployment was Rychnov nad Kněžnou at 1.2 percent, followed by Prague-East with 1.5 percent and Jindřichův Hradec at 1.8 percent.

The Karvina district had the highest rate at 8.9 percent, followed by Most at 8.5 percent and Ostrava-City at 7.4 percent.

The latest figures from Eurostat for the entire European Union were from August. The Czech Republic had the lowest unemployment, at 2.9 percent. In second place according to seasonally adjusted figures was Germany at 3.6 percent, however, there were no figures for Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary and the UK.

The highest unemployment rate of the reporting countries was Spain at 17.1 percent, followed by Italy at 11.2 percent.

The Czech Statistical Office, which uses different methodology, gave the unemployment rate in August for people between 15 – 64 years of age, seasonally adjusted, as 2.9 percent, down by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year. The male unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted was 2.4 percent and the female unemployment rate was 3.4 percent, according to ČSÚ figures.