Czechs, like many others workers from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), are coming home. In light of CEE currencies strengthening within the past year when compared with the pound sterling and euro, it´s clear that the same motivation that lured many workers abroad is now enticing them to return.

Around half the estimated 1 million people from the CEE region who moved to Britain since 2004 have already returned home, according to a recent report by British think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Since European Union accession in 2004, analysts in the Czech Republic have feared the potential "brain drain" phenomena resulting in a shortage of qualified high-skill workers in the country. Some fears were seemingly realized as many young, educated Czechs chose to live and work abroad, especially in the U.K. Both skilled and unskilled laborers sought higher pay and advantageous exchange rates with the British pound. But changes in the exchange rate and the job market have altered the situation. Although it is hard to determine just how many Czechs have made the move purely for financial gain, it appears that many more Czechs have been watching the narrowing currency value margin. As a result, they follow the better financial prospects all the way home.

Natálie Záhorská, business unit manager of the Grafton Technologies branch of Grafton Recruitment in Prague, said that her firm is definitely seeing a strong trend of Czechs returning home, and the strong Czech crown is certainly one of the reasons. "If we compare the exchange rate of the dollar at the end of ‘90s to now, the difference is more than Kč 20 per dollar. This information must make a number of Czechs living abroad consider returning," she said. "They’ve earned some money in foreign countries and with the strong crown they see that they would be able to have a similar income in the Czech Republic as well," Záhorská said.

Michal Kolář, a process engineer at the U.K. branch of technological conglomerate 3M Worldwide, is a Czech living and working in Britain who keeps the exchange rate in the back of his mind. "I do still mentally convert my salary into crowns, and to see the amount dropping almost on daily basis is very upsetting," he said. He’s seen the impact this has had on many other Czechs working in the U.K.

"I am aware ... that most East Europeans are heading home because the U.K. is not as financially attractive as it used to be. I had number of friends from the Czech Republic working in the catering industry in Liverpool, and most of them have gone home now," Kolář explained. "I think that skillful people with a reasonable English level can achieve similar earnings in more fulfilling jobs than working in a restaurant in the U.K.," he said.

People can return to jobs that better suit their skills. Miroslava Mozolová, a Slovak who worked in sandwich chain Pret-a-Manger in the U.K, is now a quality coordinator for a budget airline in Bratislava, Slovakia. "I will never regret my year in London ... but [from a career point of view] it was a waste of time," she told news agency Reuters.
We knew you’d be back

In line with Mozolová’s sentiment, many observers say that one of the top reasons for leaving has nothing to do with money. Grafton’s Záhorská said that the strong Czech crown and the resulting domestic prospects are not the only reasons Czechs are returning. "Generally, we can say that Czechs are not that willing to travel or to stay abroad for a longer period of time. If they decide to move abroad it is usually for a limited time, six to 12 months, and [then they] are prepared to return back to their families," she said.

John Mulvey, managing consultant for ICT Recruitment in Prague, agrees that people from the Czech Republic generally only go for one or two years to work abroad. In respect to the currency values, ICT has seen only a minor change in respect to the overall natural patterns. "We’ve seen quite a few [workers] returning from the U.K. and Ireland," he said, "but it's not necessarily a massive trend."

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.