Every two years Eurostat asks companies across the EU whether they looked for ICT specialists and whether they managed to fill the roles. The latest published data come from the 2024 survey and describe recruitment in 2023. In these figures, Czechia is one of the countries where companies find it hardest to fill IT roles.
Source: Eurostat, ICT specialists: statistics on hard-to-fill vacancies in enterprises
How many companies could not fill IT roles?
Of the Czech companies that recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists in 2023, 70.5% had trouble filling the roles. The EU average was 57.5%. Only Germany did worse (72.4%), and Spain did best (30.2%). Eurostat did not publish a figure for France because of low reliability.
The figure has to be read correctly. It is a share of the companies that recruited, not of all companies. In 2023, 8.0% of Czech companies with ten or more persons employed tried to recruit ICT specialists. Companies with hard-to-fill vacancies made up 5.7% of all companies, against 5.5% in the EU.
| Czechia | EU | |
|---|---|---|
| Companies employing ICT specialists (2024) | 20.2% | 20.1% |
| Companies that recruited ICT specialists (2023) | 8.0% | 9.6% |
| Of these, companies that had trouble filling the roles | 70.5% | 57.5% |
| Companies with hard-to-fill vacancies, share of all companies | 5.7% | 5.5% |
Companies with 10 or more persons employed, excluding the financial sector, agriculture and mining. Source: Eurostat, 2024 survey.
Czechia therefore recruits ICT specialists slightly less often than the EU average, but when it does, it runs into trouble much more often. Compared with the 2022 survey, which covered 2021, the share improved by 6.5 percentage points: back then, 77.0% of recruiting Czech companies had difficulties.
Sources: Eurostat, Enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists by size class, Eurostat, Enterprises that employ ICT specialists by size class, Eurostat, ICT specialists: statistics on hard-to-fill vacancies in enterprises
Why are the roles hard to fill?
Eurostat also asks about the reasons, and a company could give more than one. The shares are of companies that recruited, for 2023:
| Reason | Czechia | EU |
|---|---|---|
| Applicants lack qualifications from education or training | 58.8% | 41.7% |
| Too few applicants | 56.6% | 43.2% |
| Salary expectations too high | 54.3% | 41.9% |
| Applicants lack work experience | 53.3% | 40.9% |
Czech companies cite all four reasons more often than the EU average, by roughly 12 to 17 percentage points. A shortage of applicants is only one of them. Companies just as often find that applicants lack the qualifications or experience they need, or that their salary expectations do not match what the company offers.
Sources: Eurostat, Enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists by size class, Eurostat, ICT specialists: statistics on hard-to-fill vacancies in enterprises
How does it differ by company size?
The larger the company, the more often it recruits ICT specialists and the more often it has trouble. In Czechia, though, the share of recruiting companies that had trouble is high in every size class:
| Company size | Recruited ICT specialists (Czechia) | Of these, had trouble (Czechia) | Of these, had trouble (EU) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10–49 persons employed | 5.0% | 67.7% | 53.4% |
| 50–249 persons employed | 14.8% | 69.6% | 59.3% |
| 250 or more persons employed | 42.2% | 78.7% | 68.2% |
Among large companies, 33.2% of all of them had hard-to-fill vacancies, roughly one in three. Among small companies the figure was 3.4%, because most of them do not look for ICT specialists at all.
Source: Eurostat, Enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists by size class
Does this match the CZSO figures?
The Czech Statistical Office (CZSO) runs the same survey for Czechia, and its figures almost match Eurostat's: 8.0% of companies looked for or hired IT professionals, and 5.6% of companies had hard-to-fill vacancies, 33.2% among large companies. The difference between 5.7% and 5.6% is down to rounding alone (5.66% and 5.64%). The CZSO, however, gives the reasons for the difficulties as a share of all companies rather than of recruiting companies, so they cannot be compared directly with the table above.
These data count companies, not people. How many ICT specialists there are in Czechia comes from a different survey, which we cover in the article ICT specialists in Czechia: how many there are and how fast they grow. Please do not add up or compare the figures from the two articles.
Source: CZSO, Use of ICT in the business sector 2024 (in Czech)
When will newer data be available?
Eurostat asks about the recruitment of ICT specialists every two years. Data on recruitment in 2025 should come from the 2026 survey. The CZSO published the results of each of the last two surveys in January of the following year, and Eurostat plans to update its overview in June 2027. Until the 2026 survey is published, the 2023 figures are the latest available.
Sources: CZSO, Use of ICT in the business sector 2024 (in Czech), CZSO, Use of ICT in the business sector 2025 (in Czech), Eurostat, ICT specialists: statistics on hard-to-fill vacancies in enterprises
What does this mean for companies?
In 2023, 70.5% of Czech companies that recruited ICT specialists had trouble filling the roles. The data point to three practical conclusions:
- Allow for difficulties from the planning stage. When seven in ten recruiting companies run into problems, it makes sense to plan an IT hire with some slack in both time and budget.
- Be clear about what is really required. The most common reason is that applicants lack qualifications or experience. It helps to separate the essential requirements from those that can be learned on the job.
- Consider arrangements other than employment. When the capacity is needed right away or for a limited time, a contractor or outsourcing part of the work can be faster. We describe the differences in the article Contractor, employee or agency worker?
Summary
- Of the Czech companies that recruited ICT specialists in 2023, 70.5% had trouble filling the roles. Czechia is second in the EU after Germany; the EU average is 57.5%.
- As a share of all companies with ten or more persons employed, this is 5.7%, because only a minority of companies recruit ICT specialists.
- The most common reasons are missing qualifications, too few applicants, high salary expectations and lack of experience. Czech companies cite all of them more often than the EU average.
If you have been looking for an ICT specialist for a long time without success, write to us and tell us whom you need and from when. The process is described on the IT recruitment and contracting pages.
Eurostat data as of the update of 15 June 2026, CZSO data from the publication released on 21 January 2025. We will update this article once the next survey is published.
- labour market
- ICT specialists
- recruitment
- statistics
Sources
- Eurostat, Enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists by size class (isoc_ske_itrcrs), updated 15 June 2026
- Eurostat, Enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists by NACE Rev.2 (isoc_ske_itrcrn2), updated 15 June 2026
- Eurostat, Enterprises that employ ICT specialists by size class (isoc_ske_itspe)
- Eurostat, Statistics Explained: ICT specialists – statistics on hard-to-fill vacancies in enterprises
- Czech Statistical Office: Use of ICT in the business sector 2024, chapter IT professionals in enterprises (in Czech)
- Czech Statistical Office: Use of ICT in the business sector 2025 (in Czech)
