Ukrainian Staff Cannot Work Miracles

The Czech & Slovak labour supply market grew by 1.1% in value last year. For 2023, Interconnection Consulting forecasts a further increase of 4.2%. However, the markets of the two countries are developing very differently.

The number of provided workers declined in both countries in 2022. In the Czech Republic, the decline in placements was more than compensated for by higher wages and a strong currency, so that overall turnover growth rose by over 4%. In Slovakia, however, both the number of placements and the turnover of the sector declined (-4.4%). In total, turnover in both countries amounted to almost €°850 million. Higher growth rates in the temporary staffing segment are expected for 2023, also because the recruitment process of Ukrainian and non-EU nationals has become easier. In 2022, the easier integration of refugees from Ukraine into the company contributed to the fact that mainly positions without qualification requirements could be filled. “However, Ukrainian refugees will not be able to perform miracles in the labour market either,” says Pan. Trained male workers in particular are not allowed to leave the country, Pan added. In addition, Ukrainian refugees tend to move even further west. In any case, wage increases will be clearly noticeable in 2023 and will increase the industry’s turnover. Overall, the labour segment storage & industry takes the largest share of turnover in the temporary staffing sector with more than half of the turnover. Technical & engineering occupations follow at a great distance with about 18%. The job groups construction, IT & telecommunication and health have the greatest growth potential.

Permanent Staff Wanted

The unemployment rate in the Czech Republic is one of the lowest in the EU. Therefore, companies struggle to find suitable workers for both highly specialised and less demanding positions. Due to this, companies prefer to hire new employees on a permanent basis. “A trend can be observed towards permanent placements increasing their share in the turnover of staffing companies,” explains Monika Pan, the author of the study. In light of the ongoing unpredictable situation, employers started to rely more on the permanent staffing pool as early as 2022, so that the turnover share of this segment increased to 12%, which is almost 3.5% higher than in Slovakia. However, the situation in Slovakia is similar. During the pandemic, many companies used temporary staff as a low-cost solution to cope with fluctuations in demand and to remain flexible. Now, the prevailing shortage of skilled workers, which leads to frequent downtimes and, in some segments, to production cutbacks, is causing companies to rely more on the permanent segment, which will also lead to a further increase in this segment in Slovakia. The main companies in the market are, in alphabetical order: Adecco, Gi Group, Index Noslus, Manuvia, Manpower, Randstad, Trenkwalder.