Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Czechia (Ratification: 1993)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Employment trends and active labour market measures. The Committee notes the detailed statistical information provided by the Government about employment trends in the period 2018–23. According to this data, in 2023 the average number of employed persons increased by 1.5 per cent to 5,060,800 persons, of whom 2,836,300 were men and 2,224,500 were women. Employment in the primary sector increased by 5,700 year-on-year to 138,900 persons, and employment in the secondary industry decreased by 12,800 to 1,805,900 persons. In addition, in 2023 the general unemployment rate reached 2.6 per cent, increasing by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year. As of 31 December 2023, 279,200 jobseekers were registered with the Labour Office, of whom 37,300 were persons with disabilities. Their share at the end of December 2023 fell to 13.4 per cent compared to the total number of jobseekers. The Government also informs that the number of jobseekers aged 50 and over rose to 99,700 at the end of 2023, but their share in the total number of jobseekers decreased to 35.7 per cent. The number of persons up to 25 years increased to 38,800, and their share also increased to 13.9 per cent. The Committee notes that in 2023 the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Labour Office allocated 2,103,181,000 Czech koruna for active employment policy.

The Committee further notes the information about the implementation of various projects under the Operational Programme Employment (OPE) in the period 2014–20 and under the follow-up Operational Programme Employment Plus (OPE+) in the period 2021–27 with a focus on the improvement of access to employment and activation of measures for all jobseekers, especially young persons, long-term unemployed and disadvantaged groups in the labour market. The OPE+ includes projects supporting employment of persons with disabilities, people aged 30 to 54, people over 55 and young unemployed people up to 30. The Government also refers to the Regional Development Strategy 2021+ which aims to support the integration of foreigners and highly skilled workers into the labour market, the diversification of economic activities to stabilize and develop companies and the diversification of small and medium-sized enterprises, including agricultural enterprises. The Committee notes that these low unemployment figures coexist with significant structural labour and skills shortages, which have been identified by international bodies, including the OECD (Economic Survey 2025) and the European Commission (2024 Country Report), as a key barrier to economic growth. These shortages are reportedly exacerbated by the low labour market participation of specific groups, notably women with young children, older workers, and persons with disabilities. While noting the OPE+ projects, the Committee notes that the Government does not provide information, including disaggregated statistical data, on the impact of the active employment policy measures, particularly those under the Strategic Framework, implemented to increase employment and reduce unemployment for all age groups. The Committee, therefore, reiterates its request to the Government to provide such information. It particularly requests the Government to provide a specific analysis of how its active employment policy is targeted to address the identified structural labour shortages by activating these under-represented groups and to report on the measurable impact of these measures on their labour market integration. The Committee also requests the Government to continue to provide detailed updated information, including statistical data disaggregated by age and sex,on the level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment.

Education and training policies. The Government indicates that every citizen can take various courses to acquire new qualifications or to retrain after school in the framework of commercial courses without accreditation or accredited under Act No.435/204 Coll. on Employment. The Government also informs about the implementation in 2019–23 of the project Upskilling: A Systematic Environment for Deepening Competences from the Operational Programme Employment. The project supported the development of digital competences and the preparation of model training programmes for targeted support of digital literacy, especially in the area of non-transferable digital competences. In the context of the cooperation between secondary vocational schools and vocational practice, the Government refers to an amendment to Act No. 561/2004 Coll. on Pre-school, Basic, Secondary, Tertiary Professional and Other Education which obliges schools to create prerequisites for the exercise of a profession or occupation. The Committee notes that these initiatives are being implemented against a backdrop of persistent skills mismatches and digital skills gaps, which are widely documented by the OECD and the European Commission (2025 Digital Decade Country Report) as hindering the digital and green transitions. The Committee, however, notes that the Government does not provide information to its previous comments. The Committee, therefore,reiterates its request to the Government to provide detailed updated information, including statistical data disaggregated by age and sex, on the impact of education and training policies and programmes on access to lasting employment and decent work for Czech workers, particularly for young persons and older workers. It specifically requests information on the outcomes of the “Upskilling” project and how these programmes are quantifiably reducing the skills mismatches required for the digital and green transitions.

Article 3. Consultations with the social partners. The Government informs that in the period November 2017–June 2024, the Plenary of the Economic and Social Agreement Council held 35 ordinary and four extraordinary meetings. The discussed issues include the economic situation in the country and proposals for pro-growth measures, the economic crises caused by COVID-19 and support for the stabilization of the labour market, the impact of the war in Ukraine, the National Recovery Plan, a reform of education, apprenticeships and technical education, functioning of employment services and agency work and the issue of minimum wage in relation to employment. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide updated detailed information on the engagement of the social partners in the formulation and implementation of employment policy measures and programmes, including concrete and detailed information on the manner in which consultations held in the Council of Economic and Social Agreement, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and other bodies have contributed to the implementation and coordination of the employment policy, including active labour market measures. The Committee asks the Government to provide specific examples of the social partners’ advice on addressing the country’s key employment challenges – namely structural labour shortages, skills mismatches, and the integration of migrant workers – and to indicate how that advice has been taken into account in the final design of relevant policies, such as the OPE+ and the National Recovery Plan.