The AmCham Czech Republic Board of Directors discussed our second half of 2017 advocacy plan and the potential impact of the parliamentary elections on the economy at its final meeting of the 2016-2017 membership year.

AmCham Czech Republic publishes a new report within the Czech Workforce series. Wage increases in 2016 reflect the growing tightness in the labor market, due to the large decline in working age people. The situation accelerated in 2016, particularly in the blue collar market. The government's favored policies of increasing public sector wages and keeping a clamp on non-EU workforce are shaking the equilibrium between demand and supply. The question is whether the outcome will be the desired increase in wages while maintaining high employment, or the departure of a substantial number of blue collar jobs to other EU countries with either lower cost or higher productivity. 

On June 6, about 50 representatives of hospitals and medical devices companies met to attend the presentations and workshop How much courage do we need for good quality public procurement? about implementation of MEAT quality criteria public procurement in hospitals.

According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, growth in central Europe and the Baltic states is now expected to accelerate slightly in 2017 to around 3 per cent.