Foreign Workers Make Up More Than One Fifth of Czechia’s Employees
Foreign employees have become a fundamental part of the Czech economy, accounting for around 22 percent of employees by the end of 2025.
Foreign employees have become a fundamental part of the Czech economy, accounting for around 22 percent of employees by the end of 2025. Their growing presence is changing workplaces, filling labor shortages and making Czechia an increasingly international destination for people seeking employment.
Foreign workers are no longer a small addition to the Czech labor market but a major part of how the country's economy functions. Their share of the Czech workforce (pracovní síla) has increased dramatically over the past decade, according to data analyzed by the Czech National Bank. This growing dependence (závislost) on workers from abroad is visible across manufacturing, construction, transport, retail and services. Economists increasingly describe foreign employment as a structural (strukturální) feature of the Czech economy rather than a temporary response to periods of rapid growth. Around 323,000 foreign employees were recorded in Czechia ten years ago, representing approximately eight percent of employees. By the end of 2025, the figure had risen to about 935,000, equivalent to roughly 22 percent of the country's employees.
The scale of this change becomes particularly clear when the figures are viewed over a longer period. Czechia has experienced a major labor-market transformation (proměna) as the number of foreign employees has nearly tripled in only ten years. One important reason is the persistent shortage (nedostatek) of workers in sectors where Czech employers have difficulty filling available positions. International recruitment (nábor) has consequently become an important strategy for companies that cannot find enough suitable workers locally. Czechia has one of Central Europe's most industrialized economies, while its population is ageing and many employers need additional workers to maintain production and services. Foreign employment therefore affects not only large cities such as Prague and Brno but also industrial regions, logistics centers, construction projects and smaller towns with major employers.
The largest number of foreign employees can be found in industries that have traditionally required substantial numbers of workers. At the end of 2025, manufacturing (zpracovatelský průmysl) employed around 218,400 foreign employees, making it the largest individual sector in the statistics. The construction sector showed a similarly strong reliance (závislost) on international labor, with approximately 81,600 foreign employees recorded there. Transport and warehousing (skladování) together accounted for another 68,700 foreign employees. Wholesale and retail trade, vehicle repair and hospitality also employed tens of thousands of people from other countries. These figures help explain why foreign workers can be encountered throughout Czech daily life, from factories and warehouses to hotels, restaurants, shops and building sites.
The situation is particularly striking in hotels, restaurants and other food and accommodation services. Foreign workers have reached an unusually high concentration (koncentrace) in this sector, accounting for approximately 51.3 percent of employees at the end of 2025. Their role has become increasingly indispensable (nepostradatelný) for businesses that need cooks, kitchen staff, cleaners, hotel employees, waiters and other service workers. Construction shows another strong preponderance (převaha) of international labor compared with many other areas of the Czech economy, with foreigners representing about 36 percent of employees. For people moving to Czechia, these sectors may therefore provide some of the most visible examples of multicultural workplaces. They also demonstrate why changes in migration policy can have direct consequences for businesses and consumers.
The nationalities represented in Czech workplaces have also changed considerably during the past decade. The most significant demographic (demografický) development has been the rapid increase in Ukrainian employment since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The large inflow (příliv) of Ukrainian residents has transformed the composition of Czechia's foreign workforce, with around 358,000 Ukrainian employees recorded at the end of 2025. Their economic integration (integrace) has taken place across manufacturing, transport, hospitality, construction, retail and numerous other activities. Ukrainians represented about 38.3 percent of foreign employees by the end of 2025, making them the largest national group. Their number had increased by approximately 163,000 compared with 2021.
Slovaks have historically been the most prominent foreign group in the Czech labor market and remain extremely important today. Cross-border mobility (mobilita) between Czechia and Slovakia is facilitated by geographical proximity, shared history and the close relationship between the Czech and Slovak languages. Labor migration (pracovní migrace) between the two countries has therefore existed on a large scale for decades. The minimal linguistic impediment (překážka) also makes it easier for Slovak employees to work in highly qualified occupations where strong communication skills are required. Nearly 230,000 Slovak employees were recorded in Czechia at the end of 2025. Slovaks are particularly well represented in areas such as finance, insurance, information technology, professional services, science and other jobs with relatively high qualification requirements.
At the same time, Czech employers are increasingly looking much farther beyond neighboring European countries for workers. The economic incentive (pobídka) to move to Czechia remains considerable for workers coming from countries where average wages are significantly lower. Differences in income create a disparity (nerovnost) that can make Czech employment financially attractive even when the country does not offer Western European salary levels. Continued economic convergence (sbližování) within Central and Eastern Europe is gradually changing these patterns, however, because wages are also rising in countries that traditionally supplied Czech employers with workers. The number of Romanian, Polish and Bulgarian employees has recently stagnated or declined slightly. This has encouraged employers and recruitment agencies to explore new countries of origin.
One of the clearest recent developments is the growth in workers arriving from countries outside the European Union. This geographic diversification (diverzifikace) is particularly evident in the rapidly rising numbers of employees from the Philippines, India and Kazakhstan. Czech employers are increasingly using international recruitment (nábor) networks to find staff in countries that were previously relatively uncommon sources of migration to Czechia. The most remarkable proliferation (rozšíření) has involved Filipino employees, whose number increased by more than 400 percent between the end of 2021 and the end of 2025. Employment from India and Kazakhstan has also risen substantially, while increases have been recorded among people from China, Vietnam, Moldova, Mongolia and several other countries. This means that Czech workplaces are likely to become linguistically and culturally even more diverse in the coming years.
Official statistics nevertheless require some careful interpretation because they do not always show exactly where a foreign worker performs their daily job. A major complication involves agency workers (agenturní pracovníci) who are formally employed by staffing companies but may actually work inside factories, warehouses or construction businesses. Their statistical classification (klasifikace) can consequently place them within administrative and support activities instead of the industry where their work physically takes place. This produces a certain distortion (zkreslení) when researchers compare foreign employment between different sectors. At the end of 2025, around 189,300 foreign employees were recorded in administrative and support activities. However, some of these employees were likely carrying out jobs in manufacturing, logistics, construction or other industries, meaning that the real dependence of those sectors on foreign labor may be even greater.
There is another important statistical detail behind the headline figure of 935,000 foreign employees. Czech labor authorities record an employment relationship (pracovněprávní vztah) rather than necessarily counting every individual person only once. Someone working simultaneously for two different employers may therefore appear twice in the employment records (evidence). This statistical caveat (výhrada) means that the figure should be understood primarily as a measure of registered employment relationships involving foreign workers rather than a perfect count of unique individuals. The Czech National Bank nevertheless considers the long-term trend unmistakable: foreign workers have become far more important to the economy than they were a decade ago. Even allowing for methodological limitations, the increase has been substantial.
For anyone considering moving to Czechia for work, nationality plays an important role in determining which administrative procedures are required. Citizens of the European Union enjoy broad labor-market access (přístup) and generally do not need a separate Czech work permit before accepting employment. Non-EU nationals usually face additional requirements (požadavky) connected with both employment and residence. Depending on their circumstances, an employment authorization (oprávnění) such as an employee card, Blue Card or work permit may be necessary before they can legally perform certain jobs. Czech rules also provide exemptions and special arrangements for some groups and nationalities. Prospective workers should therefore check the current official requirements rather than assuming that the procedure is identical for everyone.
Finding an available job does not always mean that an employer can easily find the right person to fill it. Czech companies frequently report a mismatch (nesoulad) between the skills of available job seekers and the qualifications required for open positions. A particular vacancy (volné pracovní místo) may require technical experience, shift work, language knowledge or willingness to relocate to a region where relatively few applicants are available. Professional qualifications (kvalifikace) are especially important in healthcare, engineering, information technology and other regulated or highly specialized fields. This helps explain why unemployment and labor shortages can exist at the same time. Employers are not simply looking for any available worker; they need people with the correct skills in the correct location at the time they are needed.
Salary remains one of the main factors attracting international workers to Czechia, although earnings differ greatly between sectors and regions. Average wages (mzdy) have continued to increase, improving the financial appeal of employment in the country for many people arriving from lower-income economies. Actual remuneration (odměňování) nevertheless depends on occupation, experience, education, location and the individual employer. A worker's real purchasing power (kupní síla) also depends on housing costs and other everyday expenses, which can be particularly high in Prague. People planning to relocate should therefore compare expected net income with rent, transport, food and other regular costs rather than looking only at the advertised gross salary. Prague generally offers the largest selection of international jobs, but accommodation there can consume a substantial share of monthly income.
Language can make a major difference to the types of employment available to a foreign resident. A limited language barrier (jazyková bariéra) may not prevent someone from obtaining work in an international company, factory, warehouse or certain technology positions where English or another language is widely used. Greater Czech proficiency (znalost češtiny) considerably expands the range of positions available and makes interaction with colleagues, customers and public authorities easier. Workplace fluency (plynulost) can be particularly valuable in healthcare, education, sales, management, administration and customer-facing occupations. Learning Czech can therefore have a practical economic benefit in addition to helping newcomers participate more fully in local society. Even basic knowledge of employment vocabulary makes job advertisements, contracts and discussions with employers considerably easier to understand.
The rise of foreign employment is ultimately connected with broader changes affecting Czech society. Population ageing (stárnutí populace) is gradually increasing pressure on the domestic supply of workers as older employees retire and smaller generations enter parts of the labor market. Continued immigration (přistěhovalectví) can help compensate for this demographic development by adding working-age residents to the economy. The long-term sustainability (udržitelnost) of several industries may therefore increasingly depend on Czechia's ability to attract and retain people from abroad. Foreign workers are already deeply embedded in manufacturing, construction, logistics, hospitality, retail and many professional services. Their importance is likely to remain one of the defining characteristics of the Czech labor market in the years ahead.
For Czech language learners, this development is also changing the environment in which the language is used. Czech workplaces are becoming more multilingual (vícejazyčné), particularly in industries with large numbers of international employees. Successful social and professional integration (začlenění) nevertheless often depends on being able to communicate with Czech colleagues and understand local institutions. Building a Czech lexicon (slovní zásoba) related to employment is therefore particularly useful for anyone planning to study, work or settle in the country. Words connected with salaries, contracts, working hours, applications, permits and qualifications regularly appear in job advertisements and official documents. Understanding them provides both a language-learning advantage and a more realistic picture of what everyday working life in Czechia involves.
Key Czech Vocabulary
pracovní síla — workforce
závislost — dependence
strukturální — structural
proměna — transformation
nedostatek — shortage
nábor — recruitment
zpracovatelský průmysl — manufacturing
závislost — reliance
skladování — warehousing
koncentrace — concentration
nepostradatelný — indispensable
převaha — preponderance
demografický — demographic
příliv — inflow
integrace — integration
mobilita — mobility
pracovní migrace — labor migration
překážka — impediment
pobídka — incentive
nerovnost — disparity
sbližování — convergence
diverzifikace — diversification
nábor — recruitment
rozšíření — proliferation
agenturní pracovníci — agency workers
klasifikace — classification
zkreslení — distortion
pracovněprávní vztah — employment relationship
evidence — records
výhrada — caveat
přístup — access
požadavky — requirements
oprávnění — authorization
nesoulad — mismatch
volné pracovní místo — vacancy
kvalifikace — qualifications
mzdy — wages
odměňování — remuneration
kupní síla — purchasing power
jazyková bariéra — language barrier
znalost češtiny — Czech proficiency
plynulost — fluency
stárnutí populace — population ageing
přistěhovalectví — immigration
udržitelnost — sustainability
vícejazyčný — multilingual
začlenění — integration
slovní zásoba — lexicon
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