Expert: “Several dangers” exist but Ukrainian workers can benefit CR
“It’s conditional. It is necessarily conditional.
“It depends first on whether these immigrants will decide to stay here forever or return home, or move further west.
“If they stay, it is very important that they are integrated into Czech society, into the Czech economy.
“That means they get reasonable housing, not just some refugee camps, they get education, retraining, education for children, including teenagers, and in universities.
“And then, for the workforce, that they receive the necessary additional training, both in the Czech language and in skills close to their original work.”
The Czech Republic has long been known for its labor shortage. I expect that, to some extent, refugees can help fill this gap. But do you see any disadvantages, any dangers, in this number of new workers arriving more or less at the same time on the labor market?
“Yes. There are several risks.
“The main obstacle is the language, despite the fact that Ukrainian is a Slavic language.
“So it’s not that difficult to learn Czech, but it still requires additional language lessons for – it depends of course – a year or two.
“Without knowing Czech, the jobs that will be offered to these people will only be low-skilled and poorly paid jobs.
“There will therefore be a drop in wages in these jobs, even for Czechs.
“And it can also mean that these people will be pushed out of the shadows or even the underground economy.
“These are certainly dangers, so it is in the interest of Czech society to provide the necessary housing but also training and language courses, so that these people can really practice the jobs they are used to working for. .
“Because in many cases these are professions that the Czech Republic desperately needs.”
But is it possible to acquire the language skills required for certain professions, for example medicine or something like that?
“Becoming a fully-fledged doctor in the Czech Republic can take time, due to the necessary certificates.
“But as a nurse or a social worker or a social worker, the procedure should go much faster.
“And also, it should be noted that many of these services can be provided to Ukrainians, since a large proportion of immigrants are women, children and the elderly.
“So it will require social work and assistance, so many, many jobs can be created in this area.”
You are adviser to the Prime Minister, Petr Fiala. What would you say or what would you say to the government to do to facilitate the integration of Ukrainians as smoothly as possible?
“Allow me to summarize in three titles.
“The first is to ensure that immigrants are distributed more evenly, more equitably across the country, because the capabilities are there, but they are not located in one place.
“The second objective is to ensure that the distribution of immigrants is such that there is reasonable quality housing on the sites, education available for children and jobs.
“It requires the third title, which is to make sure that there is enough good quality information about it, so that this demanding and fast process is optimized and that people are really located where they can find not only housing but also jobs and education. .”
