Graduating in Field Statistics and Econometrics from the University of Economics in Prague, Fischer began work in 1974 at the Federal Statistical Office of the erstwhile Czechoslovakia. He earned his doctoral degree in Economic Statistics in 1985 from the University of Economics. He was appointed Vice President of the Federal Statistical Office in 1990, continuing as Vice President of the Czech Statistical Office in 1993 when the Czechoslovak federation was dissolved.

He is married to Dana Fischerová, his second marriage, and he is a father of three.

He has also worked as the Director for Statistics, Field Activities and Information Technology at the Taylor Nelson Sofres Factum Company since September 2000. The International Monetary Fund employed his services in 2001 as a technical expert in creating the national statistical service in East Timor. He served as the head of research in Informatics and Statistics at the Unversity of Economics in Prague from March 2002 to April 2003.

He was appointed President of the Czech Statistical Office in April 2003. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Czech Statistical Society, and serves on the Czech government Boards on Gender Issues and on Information Society.

Closely associated with the academic community, Fischer serves on several boards at the University of Economics, Prague. He was also a member of the Bureau of the Committee on Statistics of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2004-06.