Portugal’s unemployment rises to 6.9% in January

  • ECO News
  • 28 February 2020

The unemployment rate began the year rising, standing at 6.9% in January, a higher percentage than in December.

The unemployment rate in Portugal rose to 6.9% in January, after reaching 6.6% in the same month last year, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE). In December last year, INE confirms that this indicator was set at 6.7%, having risen at the start of 2020.

In January this year, there were an estimated 358,600 people unemployed, an increase of 2.6% compared to December, INE says. Compared to January last year, this figure represents an increase of 5.4%. In terms of employed people, it is estimated that there were 4.86 million, an increase of 0.2% compared to December.

There is an increase in unemployment compared to the last month of 2019. Initially, INE estimated that the unemployment rate had been set at 6.9%, but it turned out to be lower: after all, it was 6.7%. This figure was the same as in November and 0.2 percentage points higher than in the previous three months. Compared with December 2018, it rose 0.1 percentage points.

In the last three months of last year, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was already rising. “The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter stood at 6.7%, “0.6 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter and the same as in the same quarter of 2018,” revealed INE at the beginning of this month.

Last year’s accumulated unemployment rate in Portugal stood at 6.5%. This was a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from the 7% rate of the previous year. Despite the improvement, the Government failed to meet its target of reducing unemployment to 6.4% in 2019. For this year, the Executive estimates the rate at 6.1%.