Portugal posts EU’s fourth-sharpest fall in employment in Q2
The employment rate in Portugal decreased by over two percentage points in Q2, compared to the period before the pandemic, according to Eurostat.
Portugal registered the fourth-largest drop in employment, in the second quarter, among European Union (EU) countries, when compared to Q4 2019, before the pandemic arrived. It is also among the member states where youth employment declined the most, according to data released on Wednesday by Eurostat.
The decrease in the employment rate in Portugal was slightly over two percentage points (p.p.) in Q2 – a time still marked by the lockdown – compared to last year’s Q4. With this figure, the country is only behind Bulgaria (2.5 p.p.), Spain (3 p.p.) and Estonia (3.8 p.p.).
For the EU as a whole, 187.3 million people between the ages of 20 and 64 were employed in Q2, that represents about 72% of the population. This compares with 190.1 million employed citizens in Q1 2020 and 191.1 million in Q4 2019.
As far as youth employment is concerned, Portugal is also among the countries with the greatest falls. It was the fifth member state with the largest drop, over four percentage points, in employment for young people between 15 and 24 years old. In the EU, the employment rate fell by 2.1 percentage points for young people aged 15-24 (from 33.3% to 31.2%).
