Unemployment retrieves to 8.5% in September. INE points to a stabilization in October

The unemployment rate fell to 8.5% in September, a 0.3 percentage points’ decrease in comparison to August. The data were disclosed this Wednesday by Statistics Portugal (INE) and show an improvement in comparison to the provisional estimate from last month, which pointed to 8.6%. Concerning October, INE points to a stabilization at 8.5%.

The 8.5% unemployment rate is only equal to the rate registered in April of 2008. According to seasonally adjusted data, in September there were 439.8 thousand unemployed, 2.6% less than in the previous month. As for the number of employed people, it increased 0.1%, to more than 4.7 million.

For October, INE estimates that the rate will stabilize at 8.5% (final data will only be confirmed in the next press release from INE, in January). For now, INE points to a 0.7% decrease in the number of unemployed in comparison to September, but it also anticipates a decrease of 0.1% in the employed population.

Youth unemployment decreased in September, after all

Unlike what was foreseen in INE’s provisional data, the youth unemployment rate (aged 15 to 24) ended up falling in September to 24.6% (against 24.8% in August and 1.1 percentage points below the initial estimate). Yet, in October, the rate should rise again to 25.6%, INE estimates. All in all, INE registered 92.1 thousand unemployed in September and 96.5 thousand in October.

As for adult unemployment, it fell from 7.5% to 7.3% in September and it should have retrieved again to 7.1% in October.