THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT LOCATED IN THE INDUSTRIAL ZONES ON REGIONAL LABOR MARKET

The paper aims to analyse and evaluate the impact of foreign direct investment in the Louny District, based on the data from annual reports of multinational companies situated in the industrial zones. This region has long been among the top ten districts with the highest unemployment rate within the Czech Republic. The basic research question is how can multinational industry companies help to solve problems in the labour market in this structural afflicted region. Based on the comparative analysis of information from companies 'annual reports and statistics from the Czech Statistical Office and the CzechInvest association, the research results presented in the paper point at the fact, to what extent multinational industry companies could reduce the unemployment rate in this particular district. The contribution of these investments is illustrated by hypothetical unemployment rate, in other words, what would be the situation on the regional labour market in the case of the absence of these investments. Based on the comparative analysis of data from the period 2000 - 2013, foreign direct investment from the industrial zones Alpka and Triangle could reduce regional unemployment rate by 2,6 p. p. per year on average. This paper demonstrates the dependence of the existence of the industrial zones to reduce regional unemployment rate by the means of correlation analysis. Divergences in the development of the real unemployment rate in the region can be based on conducted research mainly attributable to specific situations in industrial zones.