For Ukrainian workers, the Czech Republic keeps its doors open for now
"Interest in this offer was low, and we failed to fill the quota of 500 people. Therefore, we expanded the project to include doctors and nurses, where there is demand on both sides. However, there is no talk today of thousands of highly qualified Ukrainians striving to come here. Well-established specialists with higher education do not want to leave their country," said Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek in an interview with the newspaper Právo.
At the same time, as the Czech website Vinegret.cz notes, another part of the government project, which provides for simplified employment of Ukrainian workers of medium and low qualification, is gaining momentum and is in high demand. Since September of this year, about 1,200 people out of the provided quota of 5,000 have received the right to live and work in the republic.
Meanwhile, under pressure from Czech manufacturers who are experiencing an acute shortage of labor, the authorities plan to double it. To this end, from January 2017, four new employees will start working at the Czech consulate in Lviv, who will deal exclusively with processing applications for work cards. For the same purposes, the staff of the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy will be expanded in the Czech Republic itself.
"An additional 11 people will be assigned to process applications. If the consulates in Ukraine are not expanded further, we will cope with the influx of applicants," said Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec.
The need to expand the departments was also agreed upon by the republic's finance minister, who allocated an additional 16 million crowns for these purposes over three years.
At the same time, Czech employers continue to criticize the authorities, calling their efforts insufficient. According to the latest study by the Czech Chamber of Commerce, the country lacks about 35,000 workers of medium and low qualification. Companies claim that Czech citizens do not want to work in the required positions or do not have the necessary skills. At the same time, trade unions accuse businesses of wanting to save on labor: allegedly, firms deliberately offer such low wages that no one except foreigners from less prosperous countries applies for open vacancies.
In a conversation with the publication, Lubomír Zaorálek warned of the danger of such a practice, stating that the employment of low-skilled workers from Ukraine should not turn into a mass and long-term phenomenon.
"Attracting good foreign specialists in professions that are in short supply in our country is a normal and correct approach. But I do not understand why the Czech Republic needs to recruit low-skilled labor from other countries. We should focus on producing goods with high added value. However, some employers want to make labor as cheap as possible, and trade unions, and I completely agree with them, do not want to open the doors of the Czech Republic to everyone, so as not to lower the average price of labor. I do not want us to repeat the path of Great Britain, where a million Poles were hired, which caused discontent among local residents, which in turn contributed to Brexit," said the head of the Czech Foreign Ministry.