The Czech unemployment rate inched up to 5.2% in February 2026 from 5.1% in January, slightly exceeding the market forecast of 5.1%. The rise reflected the usual seasonal increase ahead of spring and pushed the jobless rate to its highest level since January 2017. The number of unemployed people grew by 3,158 from the previous month to 381,705, an increase of 55,482 compared with a year earlier. At the same time, the number of registered job vacancies rose by 3,274 month-on-month to 89,705.