University-Educated Specialists, the Demand for Them and Their Standing on the Czech Labour Market

The paper deals with one of the biggest problems currently faced by the Czech labour market: namely, a shortage of labour with regard to specialists who have completed tertiary education. The introduction stresses the importance of knowledge capital both in contemporary society and in a knowledge-based economy. The need for universityeducated labour on the Czech labour market was ascertained from the results of a Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs grant project entitled "Risk of a Brain Drain in the Czech Republic". The monitoring took place from the 2nd quarter of 2004 to the 2nd quarter of 2008. The results are based on an analysis of quantitative data (classified advertisements for job vacancies on web portals and in the media and statistics on vacancies provided by labour offices) and repeated qualitative surveys (standardised interviews with recruitment agency personnel). Based on these sources, a shortage of specialists with tertiary education in the Czech Republic was identified in terms of sectoral and professional structure and specialisation. The paper goes on to present university-educated workers as subjects of international competition and the reader is briefly introduced to the approaches of different countries to attracting specialists from abroad.