“The fact that every second employer finds it difficult to fill their vacancies is still a major obstacle to the competitiveness of Czech companies. However, compared to 2018-2021, employers have seen some relief. Part of the explanation, following the re-acceleration of the movement of people on the labour market after the pandemic subsided, may be the involvement of Ukrainian refugees in the labour market, who helped fill vacant jobs in industry, logistics, gastronomy or agriculture,” said Jaroslava Rezlerová, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup.

International comparison

The global average is at an all-time high in the survey’s history since 2006, with 76% of companies facing a talent shortage, driven primarily by the technology revolution and the changing structure of positions and new skill needs at all levels. Taiwan (88%), Portugal (85%), Singapore (84%), China (83%) and Hong Kong (83%) report the largest skills shortages, while the Czech Republic (49%), Slovakia (56%), Colombia (61%) and Panama (64%) report the smallest talent gaps.

The jobs that are most difficult to fill

The most difficult-to-fill employee profiles were divided into seven basic groups and are ranked by the percentage of companies reporting difficulty filling the following positions: IT (28%), Manufacturing (20%), Transportation & Logistics (18%), Sales & Marketing (16%), Administrative Support (13%), Front Office (12%), and HR (11%).

Growing importance of soft skills

According to Jaroslava Rezlerová, “2020 has seen the biggest transformation of the labour market and the most significant change in the skills required since the Second World War. The pandemic has only temporarily affected the demand for some skills, but rather accelerated most of the long-term structural changes, such as the declining interest of people in manufacturing jobs, the speed of introduction of robotics and software automation, and the need to rapidly retrain large numbers of workers. All this has further increased the emphasis of companies on the soft skills of employees.”

In a time of rapid change and great uncertainty, our survey found that organisations most often lack these skills in their employees: Creativity and Originality (24%), Responsibility, Reliability and Discipline (22%), Logical Thinking and Problem Solving (20%), Resilience, Stress Management and Adaptability (20%), Collaboration and Teamwork (19%), Critical and Analytical Thinking (18%), Scholarship and Inquiry (18%), Initiative (17%), Leadership and Social Influence (15%).

“Continued uncertainty in many industries is holding back natural employee turnover. The job market is frozen for the most in-demand positions. Some firms are willing to significantly overpay for shortage profiles, adding further upward pressure on wages. This will accelerate the structural changes in the Czech economy towards advanced manufacturing, R&D, IT and especially services. The changes will deepen rather than calm. In contrast, there is a large group of people who cannot find employment and cannot understand why this is the case. It is interesting to note in the statistics from the employment offices that the skills group where there is the greatest demand from companies also has the highest unemployment. Employment in the labour market is not only a question of qualifications, but also of life preferences, attitudes and motivation. This increases social inequalities between people. For some, the labour market is growing in value, they can choose their work and enjoy premium benefits such as flexibility and working from home. Then there is another group who do not understand what is happening in the world and that they have been forgotten. This increases the polarization of the population and the extremization of some people. The transformation of the economy and labour market has big political implications,” said Jaroslava Rezlerová, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup.

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