Tchéquie

This paper studies the shift from manual to cognitive work in 10 economies of Central and Eastern Europe. It highlights the growth in the non-routine cognitive component of jobs, but pay particular attention to the increase in routine cognitive tasks, a trend that is pronounced in the CEE economies but absent in the most advanced economies. It shows that workforce upgrading and structural change were the main factors behind the increase in all cognitive tasks, but that the growth in routine cognitive tasks is partly attributable to rising shares of routine-intensive occupations. It identifies two groups of workers whose jobs depend most on performing routine cognitive tasks: middle-skilled men in the manufacturing sectors and middle-skilled women in the service sectors, who jointly represent 33% of workers in CEE. It finds that robust employment and wage growth among routine cognitive workers has so far prevented job polarisation in CEE. However, the relative prices of routine cognitive tasks are already higher than those of other tasks. If the prices of routine cognitive tasks rise further while technological progress continues, routine intensive employment may gradually decline. It concludes with policy implications of the findings.

Over the past 15 years, migration in Europe has changed considerably. The economic boom in the early and mid-2000s and expanded mobility owing to European Union enlargement helped create new populations of migrants from both within and beyond the European Union. These recent migrants are more educated than earlier arrivals and many are highly skilled. Against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, which profoundly affected many migrant-receiving countries in Europe, governments are grappling with questions of how to ensure that immigrants are able to find employment and progress into better jobs over time.

This overview report caps a series of six country case studies evaluating the employment outcomes for foreign-born workers in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The study examines how easy it is for newcomers in the European Union to establish themselves in destination-country labor markets in the first ten years after arrival, and how well they are able to move out of unskilled work and into middle-skilled jobs.

Despite having emerged relatively strong from the global financial crisis compared to other OECD countries, growth in the Czech Republic remains fragile. Long-term unemployment is persistently higher than the EU average and productivity remains weak, affecting overall competitiveness. Within this context, creating quality jobs and skills has been seen as an important priority to ensuring sustained growth in the economy.

This Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) review examines the range of institutions and bodies involved in employment and skills policies, with a particular emphasis on the Ústí nad Labem and South Moravian regions.