In the next seven to eight years, 300,000 jobs will disappear in the Czech Republic, and a further one million positions will be transformed in their job description due to digitization, said Labour Minister Marian Jurecka yesterday. It is therefore necessary, he said, to invest in retraining and education, mainly digital education.
On a visit to the Karlovy Vary Region, Jurecka (KDU-CSL) said the ministry wants to train up to 130,000 people within a year and a half.
There is growing interest in retraining and courses in the Karlovy Vary Region, with about twice as many people applying year-on-year, said Pavel Kucera, director of the Labour Office in Karlovy Vary.
“Today we have measured quite accurately, based on data from companies and also experience from abroad, that 300,000 positions as we know them will disappear in the next seven to eight years,” Jurecka said. “Another one million jobs will undergo a significant change in the nature of their work, primarily as a consequence of digitalisation, where those positions will require more advanced digital skills.”
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Labour Office therefore plan to increase investment in human capital and support retraining and digital education, with CZK 5 billion earmarked for this purpose. The ministry hopes to train up to 130,000 people in digital education over the next 18 months to increase their competence in digital technologies. Some training is to be provided by companies and NGOs, but most will be provided by the labour offices.
There is also a so-called educational e-shop for retraining, www.jsemvkurzu.cz. A total of 18,539 people have already entered digital training courses in the Czech Republic, and 13,379 people have successfully completed them. A higher proportion of these are women.
According to Kucera, the Karlovy Vary Region has a higher proportion of inhabitants who are “digitally excluded”, which reduces their opportunities on the labour market. In the Karlovy Vary Region, about 600 people have been involved in retraining since the beginning of 2024, of whom about 450 have already completed retraining, roughly a twofold increase compared to last year.
