Macroeconomic Data 2007
Population: 10,467,542
GDP growth: +3.2%
Unemployment: 4.4% (Prague 1%)
Inflation: 1.5%
Export volume: 91,304 Million €
Import volume: 88,763 Million €
Czech Republic: Economic Figures
The Czech Republic lies in the heart of Europe, sharing its borders with Germany, Poland, Slovak Republic and Austria. Comprised of three historic territories – Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia (the latter of which it shares with Poland) – the country's modern geopolitical structure is made up of 14 recently formed regions and 77 districts. The capital – Prague – is the most developed region in the Czech Republic, and is among the most developed regions within the EU.
The greatest asset towards the GDP creation was in the field of industrial production, predominantly in production of machines, electric devices and transport vehicles. In 2008 the automotive industry created more than 25% of total Czech production and sections of the automotive industry reached 23% of export with more than 155,000 people employed. In 2009 the situation has dramatically changed and automotive companies had to dismiss thousands of employees. On the other hand the scrapping bonus for old cars in Germany is now generating time-limited demand for new cheap cars and bringing more work for some Czech car producers.
Another significant Industry is production of electrical devices which has experienced rapid growth in recent years to reach its current level of 16%. This fact, together with some other growing industries like fine mechanics and the food industry, proves that Czech production is loosing its “heavy industry taste”.
This economic growth caused increased export and demand for personnel. The unemployment rate has fallen down to 4.4% in 2008. The Czech workforce consists of approx. 5.7 million people: 4.9 million employees and 800,000 entrepreneurs (78% without employees). The current situation 2009 has influenced the labour market as well, starting with repatriating the foreign employees on short-term contract.
In 2008 the export of Czech Republic was largely oriented towards EU countries (73%). Germany (31% of export), Slovakia (9.2%), France (5.4%), Austria (4.8%), Great Britain (4.8%) and Italy (4.7%) belong to the most important business partners of Czech Republic.
