At first glance, the Czech labour market may look balanced. There are tens of thousands of job vacancies and hundreds of thousands of registered job seekers.

But this picture is misleading. Employers are not looking for “available workers” in general, but for specific people with specific skills, shifts and locations. That is where the real shortage begins.

The Czech labour market has been operating under this pressure for years, even if it is still often described as a temporary issue. In reality, it is becoming a structural feature of the economy, writes Tomáš Surka, managing partner of Orienta Czech.

According to Labour Office data, there were more than 94,000 vacancies in the Czech Republic at the end of April 2026, alongside over 364,000 registered job seekers. On paper, this should be enough. In practice, it is not.

Companies struggle to match candidates with the requirements of production, logistics, healthcare, construction and hospitality.

The gap becomes clearer when looking at broader estimates. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has previously indicated that employers are searching for nearly 250,000 additional workers, with around one in five companies reporting that labour shortages limit their operations. The problem is not only recruitment. In many sectors, there are simply not enough people available.

Shortages appear across production, logistics, warehousing, gastronomy, hospitality, agriculture, transport, construction, healthcare and social services. And it is not limited to highly skilled roles. Employers lack production operators, welders, drivers, cooks, cleaners, warehouse workers, caregivers and technical staff. Without them, companies cannot run full operations, expand capacity or maintain service standards.

As a result, foreign workers have shifted from being a supplement to becoming a core part of the labour market. In many industries, they are now essential for day-to-day functioning.

By the end of 2024, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs registered more than 845,000 employment relationships of foreign workers in the Czech Republic. In addition, nearly 132,000 foreigners operated as self-employed persons. Together, close to one million work or business activities are linked to people from abroad.

The largest group comes from Ukraine, followed by workers from Slovakia and other countries. Their role is no longer marginal or temporary. It has become embedded in the structure of the Czech economy, even if public debate has not fully reflected this shift.

Still, labour migration is often discussed as an exception or short-term solution. This no longer matches reality. The Czech labour market is already structurally dependent on foreign labour, and the question is not whether this will continue, but how it will be managed.

Demographic trends reinforce this development. The population is ageing, while the number of people in working age is expected to decline. At the same time, demand for healthcare, social care and services will grow. Fewer workers will need to support more retirees, while also maintaining economic output.

Foreign recruitment, however, cannot be left unstructured. Bringing workers into the country is only the first step.

What matters is the entire system: selecting suitable candidates, verifying skills and language ability, managing visas, securing housing, onboarding workers and ensuring integration into teams.

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