Structural Changes of the Labour Market in the Czech Republic in Terms of Skills: Is There Any Job Polarization?

Abstract

Abstract Job polarization has been proven mainly in the United States and many Western European countries, but the Czech Republic has been relatively neglected in these surveys. This paper explicitly focuses on the Czech Republic and fills this gap from 2004–2017. Moreover, the Czech Republic is examined at the level of individual regions, making this paper new. Descriptive results show that the labour market has been polarized – employment in the high- and low-paying occupations has increased, while employment in the middling occupations has decreased. Furthermore, polarization has been demonstrated in seven regions. The workforce relocation took place to a greater extent in low-paying occupations (both at the level of individual regions and the level of the whole Czech Republic). Regression analysis results show job polarization only between 2004 and 2010 in the occupations of the private sphere.