Unemployment climbs to 7.9% in July

The unemployment rate in Portugal increased in July to 7.9%, 0.6 percentage points more than in June and 1.4 points more than in the same month of 2019, according to data released on Wednesday by Statistics Portugal (INE).

According to the monthly unemployment estimates, provisional data also indicates that the unemployment rate (according to the International Labour Organisation concept) continued to rise in August to 8.1%, 0.2 percentage points more than in the previous month, 2.2 percentage points more than three months ago and 1.7 percentage points more than a year ago.

The INE also noted that, according to the final results for July, the employed population increased by 0.5% compared to the previous month, but fell by 1.2% compared to three months earlier and 3.1% compared to the same month in 2019.