The number of Ukrainians seeking to work in the Czech Republic is constantly growing, but there are few qualified specialists among them
The number of Ukrainian citizens looking for work in the Czech Republic is constantly increasing, and state structures cannot cope with the flow of those wishing to obtain a so-called "work card." According to Radio Prague, to solve the problem, in just the last two years the Czech government has raised the quota for accepting applications from 170 to 1,000 per month.
As the online publication Novinky.cz notes, "instead of the expected qualified specialists from Ukraine, mostly cheap labor arrives," for which there is demand among local firms against the backdrop of low unemployment in the country.
The inflow of labor resources is facilitated by the "Ukraine Regime" program, which allows Czech employers to find workers directly in Ukraine. Ukrainians who receive an invitation from a Czech company can obtain a work permit on an accelerated basis. In 2016-2017, 10,104 Ukrainian citizens participated in the program. Initially, it was planned to attract 3,800 Ukrainians per year to the Czech Republic.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, which act as guarantors of the program, characterize it as successful and believe that its implementation should continue. This position was formulated in a report by the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Martin Stropnický.
At the same time, as noted in Novinky.cz, the growing flow of applications creates difficulties in the work of ministries, despite the increase in the number of employees at the Czech embassy in Kyiv, the consulate in Lviv, and in the relevant departments of the Ministry of Interior. If in August 2016 the processing of an application took a week, then in December 2017 it already requires 114 days. According to Minister Martin Stropnický, this period may continue to grow.
Former Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek, who currently serves as chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy, for his part, notes that "the program has deviated from its original objectives." Its goal was to attract qualified personnel and specialists to the Czech Republic, but now, according to the politician, "cheap labor is heading here." "We agreed on a reasonable number of people so that this would not lead to the functioning of our economy at the expense of an influx of cheap labor. That is, people who will settle in dormitories without the opportunity to integrate normally into society," emphasizes Lubomír Zaorálek.
In his opinion, two types of labor force are forming in the Czech Republic – "first" and "second category," and Ukrainians often belong to the latter, which resembles the situation that previously developed with Turks in Germany.
At the same time, Czech companies insist on attracting Ukrainian labor resources. Representatives of professional organizations and chambers point out that the Czech economy needs 150,000 workers from abroad, primarily from Ukraine. This position is also cited in Martin Stropnický's report, which states that meeting employers' demand for workers from Ukraine is "one of the basic conditions for the competitiveness and further development of the Czech economy."
Trade unions, for their part, point to "a decrease in the overall level of wages due to the influx of cheap labor from the East."