Unemployment in Czechia rises to 4.1% in December

Unemployment in Czechia rose to 4.1% in December, up from 3.9% in November, the Czech Statistics Office reported on Thursday. Around 306,478 people were looking for work, an increase of 16,000 from the previous month, while job vacancies fell by 9,000 to 246,573. A year earlier, in December 2023, unemployment stood at 3.7%.

The highest unemployment rates were in the Ústí nad Labem region at 6.2% and the Moravian-Silesian region at 5.8%. Prague recorded the lowest rate at 2.8%. Among districts, Karviná had the highest unemployment at 8.5%, while Prague-East had the lowest at 1.5%.

There were 1.2 jobseekers per job vacancy in December, with Karviná experiencing the greatest competition—11.4 applicants per job. In contrast, districts like Mladá Boleslav and Prague-East had just 0.3 applicants per position.