The Czech Republic’s labour market is expected to slow down in 2019 with wage growth and staff shortages predicted to persist, according to survey data from Grafton Recruitment.

The data found that while wages are expected to continue to grow at a rate of 5%-8% per year, some firms are already talking about possible downsizing and related redundancies. Grafton is also calling the country’s labour market an employees’ market rather than an employers’.

As a way to combat the labour shortage, Grafton predicts that interest in workers from non-EU countries is likely to increase in 2019 with employers looking at foreign workers as a possible solution. Companies have also been raising wages and increasing benefits to stay competitive.

According to Grafton, the labour shortage in the Czech Republic within the past year has also accelerated the recruitment process to 1-2 weeks instead of 6 months for many roles.

Martin Ježek, Business Development Director, Grafton Recruitment in Czech Republic also added that automation has become a challenge for personnel departments for employers with staff shortages. He said that they often need to fill new positions that arose with the development of new technologies that did not previously exist.

Within the EU, the Czech Republic has the lowest unemployment rate, at 2.2% according to the latest data from Eurostat.