The employment gap between men and women in the Czech Republic has narrowed to a record low, with experts attributing the shift primarily to Ukrainian refugee women entering the workforce, Novinky reported on 4 September.

Czech Statistical Office data shows that as of June 2025, employment among men stood at 80.2%, while women’s employment reached 71.2% – a difference of nine percentage points.

This marks a dramatic change from July 2023, when women’s employment was 68.2% compared to men’s 81.5%, representing a gap of over 13 percentage points.

“We are seeing things that have never happened historically,” Dalibor Holý, director of the labor market statistics and equal opportunities department at the Czech Statistical Office, told Novinky.

The statistics reveal the scale of Ukrainian women’s integration into the Czech labor market. In June 2025, nearly 166,000 refugees were legally employed in the country, with 101,000 of them women. According to Jakub Augusta, spokesman for the Czech Ministry of Labor, “this is the highest number since the beginning of the war.”

Holý explained that Ukrainian refugee women “have a very high employment rate, which contributes to the growth of women’s employment.”

Beyond refugee integration, experts point to broader economic factors driving the employment shift. The rising cost of living has pushed more women into the workforce, while traditional male-dominated industries have shed jobs. Manufacturing, historically employing more men, has contracted, while the service sector – where women are more represented – has remained stable.

The employment pattern also reflects changes in work arrangements. Experts suggest that support for part-time employment, which women use more frequently than men, has contributed to the narrowing gap.

The Czech Republic has taken other steps toward gender equality in recent months. The country recently allowed women to use the masculine form of their surnames in official documents.

However, Czech intelligence services have warned of potential challenges ahead. They cautioned about a scenario where thousands of Ukrainian war veterans might travel to the Czech Republic to reunite with their families after the war ends, though the implications for the labor market remain unclear.

The employment figures represent a significant shift in Czech demographics and labor patterns, with Ukrainian refugee women emerging as a key factor in reshaping the country’s workforce composition.