Unemployment stood at 3.9 % in March and fell to 3.7 % in April

As spring is increasingly making its presence felt, the unemployment rate is going down. While during March the
Unemployment held at 3.9 %, falling to 3.7 % in April. The market was counting on this result.

At the end of April, the employment offices reported 280 078 job seekers. Their number was 8545 lower than at the end of
of the previous month. The rapid decline in the number of unemployed is mainly due to the fact that seasonal work started earlier this year
due to the early arrival of pleasant outside temperatures. Firms were mainly recruiting in construction, agriculture or
in the service. Some tradesmen who had suspended their activities over the winter have also returned to work.

On the other hand, jobseekers can choose from 268,046 vacancies. The number was 614 lower
than in the previous month. The number of jobs is therefore still stagnant in total, give or take. This shows that
that the state of the economy is not good enough to create new jobs by the thousands. This is proof of that,
that the revival of the labour market is almost exclusively related to seasonal factors.

The number of applicants per vacancy is 1.0. Even so, the number of registered job seekers in
12 032 more than the number of registered vacancies in April. Anyway, for 5 months now we have seen that
we don't have more job vacancies than the number of unemployed. This means that the labour market is no longer as
tense as in recent years. But nothing fundamental has changed. In the Czech economy, it is still easy to find work for
conditions that one is not too picky when choosing a new job. The point is that for about three-quarters of
reported vacancies employers are looking for candidates with primary or lower education, two
One third of the vacancies are suitable for foreigners.

The labour market is reviving practically all over the Czech Republic. This can be proved by the fact that unemployment in April vs.
March fell in all 14 regions and in 72 of the 77 districts of the Czech Republic. The highest unemployment in April was in Ústí nad Labem
region, where it reached 5.9 percent. On the other hand, the lowest unemployment rates were in Prague and Vysočina Region, where
reached 2.8 percent. Among the districts, unemployment was highest in Karviná, where it reached 8.1 %.
The lowest proportion of unemployed was reported in the Prague-East district, where only 1.5 % of people were looking for work.

In 2022, the unemployment rate for the full year ended at 3.4 %. In 2023, on average, it rose to the level of
3.6 %. The trend of a very gradual increase in the unemployment rate is expected to continue in 2024. But going forward
it is clear that companies have recently found it very difficult to find new workers and therefore will not want their existing
to lay off employees. The flexibility of the Czech labour market is not high and the possible approval of the possibility of dismissal
of an employee without giving a reason will not improve the situation overnight. Meanwhile, industrial enterprises are beginning to feel that with
The second half of 2024 should already be richer in new orders as the economy recovers. If they have lasted so far
don't let go, they're not gonna start now. Specifically, we expect unemployment in 2024 to average 3.8
%. Today, the koruna is holding on to the gains of recent days and the exchange rate remains at CZK 24.93/EUR.

Already yesterday, the news from the retail sector, which is reviving, was pleasing. Meanwhile, today's report on the fall in the unemployment rate gives the green light for households to continue to increase their spending. This may be a signal for the Czech central bankers to very seriously
were considering slowing the pace of interest rate cuts. This opens up room for the Crown to add more
profits.

Markéta Šichtařová