The increase in staff at diplomatic missions will allow processing three times more applications for various categories of Czech visas annually
Head of Czech diplomacy Lubomír Zaorálek emphasized that the Foreign Ministry thus decided to meet the demands of employers who insist on simplifying the processing of work permits for citizens of so-called third countries not in the EU: “Our entrepreneurs, from virtually all regions of the republic, are putting enormous pressure on the government to accelerate the recruitment of foreign workers, complaining that it is the shortage of labor that is causing the collapse of production at their enterprises.”
As Radio Prague notes, experts are calling for coordination of actions to resolve this imbalance. Deputy Chairman of the Association of Exporters of the Czech Republic, Otto Daněk, had previously warned that the impending collapse of industrial production could cause significant damage to the domestic economy due to the fact that the Czech Republic's economic growth is much more based on industrial production than in other countries. Representatives of exporting enterprises also proposed several solutions to the government for faster recruitment of workers from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Vietnam.
The most painful blow due to the shortage of labor falls on small and medium-sized firms. According to an analysis by the Association of Exporters, Czech industry needs at least 70,000 workers and thousands of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, chemists, and specialists in the textile industry. As a result, the Czech Republic has come as close as possible to the limit of its production capacity, despite the fact that the unemployment rate in the country (4.1%), like in Germany, is the lowest in the European Union.
“I believe that the Czech Republic is no longer at the limit of its production capacity, but beyond that limit. It is no longer about the mentioned 70,000 unfilled jobs in the production of export goods. Currently, we have approximately 115 to 120 thousand vacancies. Workers of all professions are needed, not just highly professional personnel, qualified specialists, technicians, and other specialties; we are experiencing a shortage of workers in key positions. All this is slowing down Czech production and exports,” notes the chairman of the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Entrepreneurs of the Czech Republic, Karel Havlíček.
According to representatives of the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic, five additional employees in Lviv are unlikely to resolve the situation with the acute shortage of workers in the Czech Republic. However, they can speed up the arrival of several hundred Ukrainian employees to the Czech Republic.
“Currently, we have about 400,000 foreign workers, so such an inflow will not significantly change the overall labor market picture,” notes Karel Havlíček. “I see this only as a first step by the Foreign Ministry towards our demands, but similar measures should also be taken in other countries and cities.”