Unemployment in northern region below national average

Portugal’s northern region’s unemployment rate fell to 6.2% in the second quarter of 2019, below the national average (6.3%) for the first time in the last 17 years, according to the Norte Conjuntura report, released on Monday.

The quarterly bulletin of the Coordination and Development Commission of the North Region (CCDR-N) that presents the trends of the economic evolution in the North region and to which Lusa had access, pointed out that this is the lowest level of unemployment since the third quarter of 2002.

As for the unemployment rate of workers with higher education, it fell to 4.6%, the lowest value of the century.

According to Norte Conjuntura, the employed population of the region increased to 1,722,100 people, with the creation of further 9,400 jobs compared to the same quarter of 2018.

The pace of employment growth has been slowing for nine quarters and, as a result, in the northern region, the employment rate from 20 to 64 years increased very slightly to 74.4% in the second quarter of 2019.

In Portugal, the same indicator reached 76.1%, increasing the difference between national and regional rates, the bulletin said.

The unemployed population fell to 113,7000 people in the second quarter of 2019, representing a reduction of 19,200 unemployed compared to the same quarter of 2018.

As for the average net monthly salary of employees in the North region, it reached €865 in the second quarter of the year.

The growth was 3.6% compared to the same quarter of 2018.

With this, the average salary of the region became lower by about 5% than that earned in Portugal, which at the same time was €911.

Compared to the same quarter of 2018, in the second quarter of 2019, employment increased by 1.2% in the services sector and by 0.8% in the secondary sector (industry, construction, energy and water).

Among the major sectors of activity, only the primary sector, which includes agriculture, animal production, hunting, forestry and fishing, registered a decrease in employment in year-on-year terms (down 7.2%), it said.

Norte Conjuntura stated that manufacturing industries are the most important branch of activity in the region, employing 429,900 people, equivalent to 25% of all employment in the second quarter of 2019.

As for the population employed in the field of human health and social support, reached for the first time value of more than 150,000 individuals in the second quarter of 2019, representing 8.7% of total employment in the North.

In the second quarter of the year, nights spent by foreigners in the region in tourist accommodation establishments represented 63.1% of the total, the highest value since there is a record.

The report also highlighted that the default rate on housing loans reached the lowest level in the last ten years, at 1.7%.