Praha - The number of unemployed has decline down to 4.7 percent in a year-toyear comparison.

It is a record low since 1997.

The first quarter 2008 saw 93.4 thousand employed more than in the same period in 2007. In total, it was 4,958.3 thousand people.

The figures were published today by the Czech Statistical Office. There were 243.8 thousand unemployed.

The number of long-term unemployed decreased by 46.5 thousand and compared to last year, it was a decline by one fifth.

The majority of the unemployed (71.6 percent) are people with lower education - basic or secondary school with no graduation degree.

The number of people who have been unemployed longer than one year and longer has decreased down to 123.2 percent. However, it is still a rather high number in the EU zone.

The general level of unemployement is lower in the Czech Republic on long-term basis than in the rest of the EU countries.

Although there are differences in measuring the employment between the ILO method and the one used by the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, there are declining tendencies evident in both of the methods.

The unemployment rate as reported by the Labor Ministry was 6 percent in the first quarter 2008.

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