The unemployment rate in March did not bring any surprises. As expected, the number of unemployed persons decreased again and thus returned back to the lowest level in the past few years, to 336 thousand. The unemployment rate also decreased, returning to 5.6% after a tree-month break. The seasonal factor of winter months is usually not that strong in March, in particular not this year. Returning to the downward trend may bring the unemployment rate closer to 5% level by mid-year. After that, given the expected economic slow-down, new jobs creation should slow and the number of unemployed persons should steadily grow again. We expect the unemployment rate of approximately 5.9 % at the end of the year.