Survival Kit I.South Moravia: Geography, Labour Force, Economy Unemployment

Unemployment

Within the whole Czech Republic, South Moravia is a region with a long-term above-average level of unemployment. This is a trend that has been apparent since late ninties when traditional pillars of the region’s economy – especially textile and many engineering companies started to go bankrupt. Also, the leather and shoe-making industries faced substantial job-losses, as well as the brown-coal mining and metal working branches. Since then, the negative tendency of unemployment growth has been partly offset by the foreign direct investment that has been flowing mainly to the electronics, engineering and automotive sectors. After its peaks in early 2004 (unemployment rate of 12.1 %) and 2010 (reaching 11.4 % due to a worldwide crisis) the unemployment rate is constantly decreasing and nowadays is the lowest since 1996.1 The unemployment tends to fluctuate during the year. In absolute figures it means between 33,000 (June 2020) and 31,000 (January 2020) jobless, of which little less than a half are usually women (48.3 % in winter, but up to 50.6 % in summer months). The share of unemployed is 4.1 % and it is generally regarded as higher than national average (3.7 %, 2020).

Unemployment rate trend 1994–2020

Source: Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Regional Development Agency of South Moravia

From the regional point of view the most affected areas are Hodonín district and Znojmo district with average year unemployment about 5.0 % in 2020 (some 5,000 unemployed in Hodonín, 4,000 unemployed in Znojmo). The unemployment rate in the City of Brno during the crisis rose up from 5.5 % (2008) to 9.0 % in the first half of 2014. Current rate is steadily around 4.0 % (with some 11,000 unemployed) thereby has become the third highest in the region. Among the unemployed in Brno there is also the highest share of university graduates (almost 12 per cent in summer months in opposite to the regional 8.0 % and national 6.0 % average; 07/2020).

Average annual unemployment rate in the South Moravian Region (share of the unemployment rate in the population aged 15–64)

Source: Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Regional Development Agency of South Moravia

Tab. 8: Unemployment rate in individual districts of South Moravia

District	2005	2008	2010	2012	2014	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020*
Blansko	8.4	5.5	10.2	8.8	6.9	4.9	3.5	2.8	2.4	3.1
Brno-city	9.5	5.5	8.5	8.5	8.9	7.2	5.8	4.6	4.1	4.5
Brno-district	6.9	4.2	8.3	7.6	6.7	4.7	3.7	2.8	2.5	2.9
Břeclav	10.6	6.0	11.1	10.1	7.7	5.3	4.1	3.4	3.0	3.6
Hodonín	14.3	9.9	15.0	13.9	10.4	7.8	6.4	5.2	4.5	4.9
Vyškov	9.1	4.4	8.9	8.3	6.3	3.9	3.0	2.3	2.0	2.5
Znojmo	13.1	9.5	13.2	13.4	10.3	8.1	6.7	5.6	5.0	5.6
South Moravia	10.1	6.2	10.2	9.7	8.3	6.3	5.0	4.0	3.5	4.0
Czech Republic	8.9	5.4	9.0	8.6	7.7	5.5	4.2	3.3	2.9	3.5

Source: Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Average annual data (* January–September average, 2020)

Tab. 9: Job opportunities

District	2005	2008	2010	2012	2014	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Blansko	586	831	205	194	385	828	1,081	1,131	960	798
Brno-city	2,548	6,950	1,370	965	1,422	4,091	5,803	8,044	10,134	12,321
Brno-district	602	3,059	536	557	800	2,519	4,051	7,375	7,564	7,062
Břeclav	419	705	237	227	611	1,268	1,297	1,751	1,974	155
Hodonín	537	827	339	343	432	1,041	1,355	2,179	2,132	2,075
Vyškov	280	552	159	195	255	770	1,103	1,524	1,784	1,853
Znojmo	642	1,267	417	360	418	761	1,052	1,413	1,496	1,669
South Moravia	5,613	14,190	3,262	2,839	4,322	11,277	15,741	23,416	26,042	27,328
Czech Republic	54,677	133,485	32,992	39,597	51,396	131,191	189,282	298,895	340,921	339,001

Source: Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Average annual data (* 1Q – 2Q 2020 average)

Labour Force Wages

Regional Development Agency of South Moravia
Výstaviště 405/1
603 00 Brno
Czech Republic
www.rrajm.cz