Worker shortages in Czechia are concentrated in manual, technical, and production work rather than in offices. Official Labour Office (Úřad práce ČR) vacancy statistics repeatedly point to assembly workers, operators of machines and mobile equipment such as forklifts, truck drivers, welders, foundry workers, toolmakers, construction tradespeople and auxiliary workers in construction and manufacturing, cooks, and, in several regions, nurses and other health workers. At the same time, general administrative work, sales, and some graduate professions attract far more jobseekers than there are vacancies. For a foreign national, this tells you where Czech employers are struggling to hire. It does not tell you whether you can legally take one of those jobs. That depends on your nationality, the type of residence and work authorisation you need, the qualification the job requires and whether the employer has made the vacancy available to foreign workers. This guide explains what the official evidence shows and how national and regional pictures differ in the Czech Republic.

Worker shortages in Czechia at a glance

Across official sources, the same pattern recurs. Demand is strongest for people who make, assemble, move, build and maintain things. The Labour Office's national monthly press releases describe a mismatch: technical and manual professions face little competition from registered jobseekers, while administrative and sales fields have many jobseekers chasing each vacancy. EURES, the European job mobility network, summarises Czech shortage occupations in similar terms, listing stationary plant and machine operators, building and related trades workers (excluding electricians) and health professionals among the groups with the most shortage occupations.

The main shortage signals in official Czech sources are:

• Production and assembly: assembly workers (montážní dělníci výrobků a zařízení), machine operators in processing industries, setters (seřizovači), operators of metal treatment and surface finishing equipment, and auxiliary workers in manufacturing (pomocní pracovníci ve výrobě).
• Transport and logistics: truck drivers (řidiči nákladních automobilů), lorry, bus and tram drivers as a group, mobile equipment operators (obsluha pojízdných zařízení) including forklift operators, and warehouse workers.
• Metalwork and skilled trades: welders (svářeči), foundry workers (slévači), toolmakers (nástrojáři), electrical equipment fitters and repairers, and skilled construction tradespeople.
• Construction: auxiliary workers in construction and mining, and skilled construction trades.
• Hospitality and food: cooks (kuchaři), waiters (číšníci) in some regions, and food processing workers.
• Health care: general nurses and midwives, and other health professionals, highlighted in Prague and Karlovy Vary regional reporting and by EURES at national level.

Some of these occupations are regulated or need a licence (health professions, professional drivers, some technical trades), which affects how quickly a foreign worker can start.

Where the official shortage evidence comes from

No single official "shortage occupation list" governs immigration to the Czech Republic. The evidence comes from several official sources that measure different things, so reading them together matters more than any single figure.

Labour Office vacancy statistics

The Labour Office publishes monthly figures on registered unemployment and registered vacancies (volná pracovní místa), with a national press release and a separate press release from each of the fourteen regional branches. The Labour Office monthly unemployment report gives national totals of advertised vacancies and registered jobseekers, and a regional overview page links to each region's release. Regional releases often go further than the national one: they name the occupations employers most often seek, compare jobseekers with vacancies for particular occupational groups and, in several regions, state how many vacancies employers have marked as open to workers from abroad.

Employers have a general duty under the Employment Act to report vacancies to the regional Labour Office branch. Even so, the Labour Office states plainly that its vacancy data do not cover the whole labour market, because many positions are advertised through other channels such as private job portals and social networks, and some are filled before they ever reach the register. Registered vacancies are therefore a strong indicator of which jobs employers find hard to fill, especially lower- and middle-skilled jobs, but a weaker indicator for professional and graduate roles that are often recruited privately.

Czech Statistical Office job vacancy data

The Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) publishes separate job vacancy statistics from the Czech Statistical Office, collected quarterly from employers through the Práce 2-04 labour report. A vacancy here means a newly created job, a job vacated by a departing employee or one about to be vacated, for which the employer is actively seeking a suitable worker. Only jobs under an employment relationship count, so work done under agreements to perform work or to perform a job (DPP and DPČ) is excluded, and reporting does not depend on whether the employer notified the Labour Office. The Office describes these as experimental statistics still being developed with Eurostat. The data are broken down by economic activity (CZ-NACE), which shows which sectors are hiring rather than which occupations.

The two sources can differ: the Labour Office counts vacancies notified to it, while the Czech Statistical Office surveys employers. A Ministry of Labour analysis noted that they can paint quite different pictures of how tight the market is.

Ministry of Labour labour market analyses

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MPSV) publishes occasional labour market analyses from the Ministry of Labour, including an analysis of vacancies and the employment of foreigners and a projection of labour supply and demand in the context of demographic change. The vacancies analysis was based on a one-off employer survey. It found that employer preferences for non-EU workers were concentrated in manual occupations: craft and repair workers, machine and equipment operators and assemblers, and auxiliary and unskilled workers. Assembly workers and auxiliary production workers were among the most commonly specified vacancies. It also found that vacancies where employers preferred foreign workers less often required a legally prescribed professional qualification or higher education. Because the survey was a snapshot, use it for the shape of demand, not current numbers.

EURES

EURES, run in Czechia by the Labour Office, publishes a national and regional EURES labour market information for Czechia page, drawing on Labour Office statistics and Eurostat. EURES is primarily a free movement service for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, but its information pages are useful to anyone, and the Czech EURES service also offers some help for third country nationals.

Shortage occupations in the Czech Republic by sector

The occupation names below are taken from official Labour Office, Ministry of Labour and EURES material. Czech terms are included because you will meet them in vacancy listings.

Manufacturing, assembly and machine operation

This is the clearest national shortage area. The Labour Office's national release singles out assembly workers (montážní dělníci výrobků a zařízení) and operators of mobile equipment (obsluha pojízdných zařízení) as occupations with many vacancies and relatively few jobseekers. Regional releases add detail. The Zlín branch reports that more than half of its vacancies fall within the two CZ-ISCO major groups of machine operators (obsluha strojů) and auxiliary and unskilled workers (pomocní a nekvalifikovaní pracovníci), while a much smaller share of jobseekers look for that kind of work. Vysočina, Zlín and South Moravia all report far more vacancies than jobseekers for machine operators in processing industries. The Moravian-Silesian branch highlights operators of machines for rubber, plastic and paper processing and of metal surface treatment equipment. Setters, toolmakers and auxiliary production workers appear repeatedly in regional lists.

Most of these jobs are in CZ-ISCO major groups 7, 8 and 9. That classification matters later, because the government programmes do not cover all three groups.

Transport, logistics and warehousing

Truck drivers feature in nearly every regional release and are described as frequently sought in the national one. Central Bohemia, Zlín, Vysočina and South Moravia all report that vacancies for lorry, bus and tram drivers outnumber or roughly match registered jobseekers. Forklift operators (obsluha vysokozdvižných vozíků) and warehouse workers (skladníci) also appear in regional lists, and mobile equipment operators are a named shortage in Karlovy Vary.

Professional driving is a regulated activity. Shortage demand does not remove the need for the correct licence category, the professional driver qualification and, for some international haulage, a driver attestation. These are separate from your residence permit. We cover them in our separate guides on foreign truck driving licences and on foreign bus drivers.

Construction and skilled trades

Prague's branch reports that auxiliary workers in mining and construction and skilled construction tradespeople have very few registered jobseekers for each vacancy, and that construction is one of the sectors with the most vacancies in the capital. Plzeň lists construction tradespeople and construction workers among its long-standing most sought roles. Welders and foundry workers are named shortages in Prague, South Moravia and Moravian-Silesia. Karlovy Vary names electrical equipment fitters, mechanics and repairers, and EURES regional information for Zlín notes that electricians, plumbers and welders are increasingly difficult to recruit.

Health care

Health care shortages show up differently in the data. Prague's branch lists general nurses and midwives among the occupations with the fewest jobseekers per vacancy, and Karlovy Vary names other health professionals. EURES lists health professionals as a national shortage group and mentions health care workers and nurses in several regions. Health professions are regulated: foreign qualifications must be recognised, and some roles require Czech language skills and supervised practice. The Ministry of Health also runs its own route for health care employers within the Highly Qualified Employee programme, described below.

Hospitality, food and services

Cooks (kuchaři) are named among the most sought occupations in Moravian-Silesia and Central Bohemia, where waiters also appear, and EURES information for Liberec mentions cooks, assistant cooks and welders as areas of highest demand. Prague's branch reports accommodation and catering as one of the sectors with the most vacancies. Plzeň lists food processing workers (zpracovatelé potravin). Cleaners (uklízeči) and security staff (pracovníci ostrahy) appear in some regional demand lists, but in South Moravia and Vysočina cleaners are an occupation with many more jobseekers than vacancies, so treat them as regional rather than national shortages.

IT and professional roles

Here the evidence is mixed, and this is where reading the sources carefully matters. EURES regional information for South Moravia and Zlín mentions shortages of software developers, data analysts, cybersecurity experts, engineers and IT specialists. Yet Labour Office releases for Moravian-Silesia and Karlovy Vary show database and computer network specialists with many more registered jobseekers than vacancies. The likely explanation is that professional and IT roles are mostly recruited outside the Labour Office register, so registered data understate demand for them. If you work in IT or engineering, the government programmes for highly qualified and key staff are usually more relevant than Labour Office shortage lists.

Occupations where jobseekers outnumber vacancies

Knowing where competition is fierce is as useful as knowing where shortages are. Labour Office releases consistently show a surplus of jobseekers for:

• general administrative workers (všeobecní administrativní pracovníci), the largest imbalance in several regions;
• specialist administrative workers and assistants;
• shop sales staff and shop operators (prodavači);
• in some regions, cleaners and domestic helpers, security staff and transport and storage helpers;
• creative and academic professions such as performing artists, writers, journalists and linguists, and biological specialists, at least in Prague's registered data;
• architects and urban planners, and sales, marketing and public relations specialists in some regions.

EURES likewise lists legal, social and cultural professionals, science and engineering professionals, and business and administration associate professionals among surplus groups. A surplus in registered data does not mean such jobs cannot be found, but it does mean an employer is less likely to need to recruit from abroad and to go through the extra steps that hiring a non-EU worker involves.

Regional differences in worker shortages

National figures hide large regional differences. Unemployment, the number of vacancies and the occupations in demand all vary between regions and even between districts. The national press release shows that Prague and Central Bohemia hold the largest numbers of registered vacancies, while the Ústí nad Labem and Moravian-Silesian regions have the highest shares of unemployed people. Districts such as Karviná and Most have some of the highest unemployment shares, while districts around Prague (Praha-východ and Praha-západ) have some of the lowest.

Prague and Central Bohemia

Prague has the largest pool of registered vacancies and few jobseekers per vacancy on average. The Prague branch reports construction, accommodation and catering, and wholesale and retail as the sectors with the most vacancies. Its newly reported vacancies are dominated by auxiliary work, services and sales, craft and repair work, and machine operation. It identifies shortages of auxiliary construction workers, drivers, nurses and midwives, foundry workers and welders, and skilled construction trades. The Prague branch press release also reports that almost all vacancies in the capital carry the marking that allows employers to hire workers from abroad. In Central Bohemia, the branch names drivers, cooks, waiters, warehouse workers and assembly line workers as the most sought roles, with vacancies concentrated in the Mladá Boleslav district and the districts surrounding Prague.

West and southwest

The Plzeň branch lists assembly workers, mobile equipment operators, truck drivers, construction tradespeople, toolmakers, construction workers and food processing workers as long-standing most sought occupations, and reports that a large majority of its vacancies are suitable for workers from abroad. EURES information for South Bohemia points to difficulties filling craft and repair work and machine operation. In Karlovy Vary, the branch names mobile equipment operators, electrical equipment fitters and repairers, other health professionals and some education specialists as shortage occupations, while competition varies sharply between districts.

North West and Moravian-Silesia

The Ústí nad Labem and Moravian-Silesian regions combine high unemployment with specific shortages, which shows why unemployment rates alone are a poor guide. In Moravian-Silesia, the branch names setters, cleaners, auxiliary production workers, cooks, welders, toolmakers, assembly workers, truck drivers, forklift operators and security staff as the most frequently sought, and reports a surplus of administrative workers. In high unemployment areas, Labour Office checks on whether a vacancy can be filled locally can matter more.

South Moravia, Vysočina, Zlín, and the east

South Moravia reports manufacturing and construction as the main sources of vacancies, with machine and equipment operators the most in demand, and states that employers often turn to foreign workers for these roles. Truck, bus, and tram drivers and foundry workers are alin so short supply. Vysočina points to machine operators in processing industries and truck drivers. Zlín reports shortages of truck drivers and machine operators. The Hradec Králové, Pardubice, Olomouc and Liberec releases contain less occupational detail, but EURES regional information describes demand there for auxiliary workers in construction, production and transport, skilled trades, lower level blue collar and technical occupations, warehouse operatives, cooks and welders.

Volná pracovní místa open to employee card holders

For a non-EU worker, the most important step is moving from "this occupation is in short supply" to "this specific vacancy is open to me". Czech official systems separate these in two ways.

First, when employers report a vacancy to the Labour Office, they can indicate whether it is suitable for foreign workers. Regional releases show this split: some vacancies carry no "pro cizince" marking, while the rest also allow the employer to recruit from abroad. The Prague, Plzeň, Karlovy Vary and South Moravia releases all show that most registered vacancies in those regions carry the marking, though the share varies.

Second, and more importantly for an employee card (zaměstnanecká karta), the employer must agree to the vacancy being placed in the Ministry of Labour's central register of vacancies fillable by employee card holders. There is a separate register for EU Blue Card (modrá karta) vacancies, which must require high qualifications. According to the Ministry of Labour's page on employee cards, Blue Cards and work permits, the employer can give this consent when reporting the vacancy or later, and the vacancy is normally entered in the register straight away, though in exceptional cases, for example where unemployment is high, entry can be delayed by 10 to 30 days. The procedure from the employer's side is covered in our separate guide on employers hiring foreign workers.

You can search these registers yourself through the Ministry of Labour vacancy search for foreigners, which offers three searches: vacancies suitable for non-EU foreigners, vacancies fillable by Blue Card holders, and vacancies fillable by employee card holders. The Public Administration Portal describes how the registers work: once you find a suitable vacancy and agree on terms with the employer, you apply for the employee card, normally in person at a Czech embassy or consulate, and the application is linked to that vacancy, which stays reserved for you while the proceedings run.

Comparing the employee card register with regional shortage lists shows where demand and eligibility overlap. A shortage occupation with no entries in the employee card register is a weak lead for a non-EU applicant; a shortage occupation with many register entries is a strong one.

Demand is not eligibility.

A shortage in official statistics creates no right to a visa, permit or job. Czech law does not give foreign nationals a separate fast track simply because they work in a shortage occupation. Eligibility depends on the following.

• Your nationality. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens work freely and do not need an employee card. Non-EU nationals generally need an employee card, an EU Blue Card or, in some situations, a work permit (povolení k zaměstnání) plus a separate residence title. Some nationalities have special arrangements, and applications from some countries are restricted or not accepted at all.
• The vacancy register. For an employee card, the job generally has to be in the central register of vacancies fillable by employee card holders.
• Pay and hours. The Ministry of Labour states that an employee card job must pay at least the basic monthly minimum wage, with weekly working time of at least 15 hours. Pay figures in vacancy listings are normally gross monthly amounts before tax and insurance deductions. The EU Blue Card requires higher pay, set as a multiple of the average gross annual wage, which changes periodically, so check the current threshold on official pages.
• Qualifications and regulated professions. The employee card itself does not restrict the qualification level of the job, but regulated jobs (health care, professional driving, some technical trades) need proof of professional competence or recognition of your qualification before you can practise. Our separate guide on Czech language requirements covers where language skills are legally required.
• Embassy capacity and quotas. Government regulation sets annual quotas for employee card applications at some Czech embassies and consulates, split between government programmes and applicants outside them. A shortage in Czechia does not raise these quotas for an individual applicant.
• Seasonal work. Seasonal work in agriculture, forestry and similar sectors follows a different route with a Labour Office work permit and a seasonal employment visa, covered in our separate guide on seasonal work.

Treat any offer that promises a guaranteed permit because "the job is on the shortage list" with caution. No official Czech source guarantees a permit for any occupation.

Government programmes for qualified workers and shortage sectors

The Czech government runs economic migration programmes that let employers register foreign recruits for faster or simplified processing. They are the main policy tool linked to labour shortages, but they target qualification levels and countries rather than naming individual shortage occupations. The Information portal for foreigners page on government programmes lists them, and CzechInvest publishes the details. Participation is not a legal entitlement in any of them.

Qualified Employee Programme

This programme (Program Kvalifikovaný zaměstnanec) is the one most closely tied to the shortage occupations above. According to the CzechInvest Qualified Worker Programme page, it covers positions in CZ-ISCO classes 4 to 8 and only positions listed in the central register of vacancies fillable by employee card holders. The employer must have operated in the Czech Republic for at least two years, have settled obligations toward the state,e and employ at least six people. Included applicants are guaranteed the chance to submit an employee card application, with an appointment date assigned by the embassy or consulate.

The programme is open only to citizens of a defined list of countries. The CzechInvest page and the Information portal for foreigners do not present an identical list, so check the current list with the Czech embassy in your country before relying on it.

Two practical consequences follow. CZ-ISCO classes 4 to 8 include clerical, service and sales, skilled agricultural, craft and trade, and plant and machine operator jobs, so many shortage roles such as welders, toolmakers, assembly workers, machine operators and drivers fall within it. Class 9, which covers auxiliary and unskilled workers (pomocní a nekvalifikovaní pracovníci), does not. A large part of registered demand, for example auxiliary production and construction workers, therefore sits outside this programme even though it shows strongly in shortage data.

Highly Qualified Employee Programme

This programme covers positions in CZ-ISCO classes 1 to 3 (managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals). CzechInvest states that the employee must be guaranteed a salary at least equal to the average income for the relevant CZ-ISCO sub-group or the minimum set for EU Blue Cards, and the employer must have operated for at least two years, have settled obligations to the state, and employ at least three people. Inclusion is valid for one year and allows family members to apply at the same time. For health care, the Ministry of Health programme for health care employers handles applications from health care providers hiring physicians, dentists, pharmacists and non-physician health professionals such as nurses. This is the programme route most relevant to the health care shortages identified in official data.

Key and Scientific Staff Programme

This programme serves significant investors, research organisations, technology companies and start-ups recruiting statutory representatives, managers and key specialists in CZ-ISCO classes 1 to 3, with the same salary benchmark. It offers the fastest processing of the three. It is most relevant to IT, engineering and research roles where EURES reports shortages that Labour Office data may not show.

How to use shortage data in your Czech job search

1. Identify your occupation's CZ-ISCO group. The Czech Statistical Office publishes the CZ-ISCO classification. Knowing whether your job falls in classes 1 to 3, 4 to 8, or 9 tells you which programme, if any, you can apply for.
2. Check the regional picture. Read the regional Labour Office press release for the regions you are considering. A shortage in Plzeň or South Moravia does not mean the same shortage in Ústí nad Labem.
3. Search the employee card register. Use the Ministry of Labour search for vacancies fillable by employee card holders and filter by occupation and region. Note the vacancy number, employer and pay, and whether the pay stated is gross.
4. Check regulated requirements. If the job is regulated, start recognition or licence procedures early, because they can take longer than the residence procedure.
5. Ask the employer about programmes. Only the employer can request inclusion in a government programme. Ask whether it is eligible and willing to use one, and whether the embassy in your country runs it.
6. Check embassy procedures and quotas. The embassy or consulate where you will apply publishes how it accepts employee card applications and any quota arrangements.
7. Verify the employer and the offer. Our separate guide on finding a job in Czechia from outside the EU explains how to check employers in official registers and avoid scams.

If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, the Labour Office EURES service can help with vacancies, advice and information on living and working conditions, and you do not need the employee card register at all.

Limits of the official shortage data

Keep these limits in mind before making plans.

• Coverage. Labour Office data include only vacancies notified to it, and the Labour Office itself warns that many jobs are advertised elsewhere. The Czech Statistical Office data are experimental and organised by sector rather than occupation.
• Snapshot effects. Monthly figures move with the seasons, so a single month can mislead.
• Registered jobseekers are not the whole workforce. Ratios of jobseekers to vacancies count only people registered with the Labour Office.
• Mismatch, not just shortage. A region can have high unemployment and shortages at the same time, because the skills, location or working conditions on offer do not match.
• Policy changes. The Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals, programme rules, eligible countries and embassy quotas change periodically. Check the official pages linked here at the time you apply.

Used together, these official sources give a reliable picture of where Czech employers need workers. The decisive questions for a foreign worker remain the legal ones: whether the specific vacancy is open to you, whether you meet the qualification and pay conditions, and which application route your nationality allows.

Sources and References

• Monthly unemployment report, Labour Office
• National press release, Labour Office
• Regional press releases, Labour Office
• Prague branch press release, Labour Office
• Moravian-Silesian branch press release, Labour Office
• EURES services, Labour Office
• Statistics of job vacancies, Czech Statistical Office
• Employee card, Blue Card or work permit, Ministry of Labour
• Vacancy search for foreigners, Ministry of Labour
• Labour market analyses, Ministry of Labour
• Publication of vacancies, Public Administration Portal
• Government programmes, Information portal for foreigners
• Qualified Worker Programme, CzechInvest
• Highly Qualified Worker Programme, CzechInvest
• Programme for health care employers, Ministry of Health
• Labour market information for Czechia, EURES