Unemployment plunges again to 7.5% in March. INE estimates a 7.4% rate in April
The unemployment rate continues its downward trajectory, standing at 7.5% in March, according to this Wednesday's estimate disclosed by Statistics Portugal (INE).
The unemployment rate stood at 7.5% in March, according to Statistics Portugal (INE) in its monthly estimate for employment and unemployment. Provisionally, INE estimates that the unemployment rate in April will fall again, to 7.4%.
In March of 2018, unemployment decreased 0.1 percentage points in comparison to the previous month, and 2.2 percentage points in comparison to March of 2017. The provisional estimate for April is that the decrease will continue, this time to 7.4%, a rate that was last registered in April of 2004.
There were 9.6 thousand fewer people unemployed in March than in February, totaling 386 thousand unemployed. In April, INE estimates that number will decrease to 381.4 thousand.
In the end of April, INE had made a downward revision of the February unemployment rate to 7.6%. After the disclosure of these numbers, the Labor and Social Security minister, Vieira da Silva, emphasized that “this is an evolution that reveals a positive dynamics in the labor market”.
