Portugal’s unemployment rate falls to 5.9%
The unemployment rate was 5.9% in December, according to INE's latest report.
In the last month of 2021, unemployment fell to 5.9%, reaching two-decade lows. According to Statistics Portugal (INE), you have to go back to April 2002 to find a lower rate.
The statistical report published this Monday shows that in December the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points (p.p) compared to the previous month and retreated by one p.p. from the same period in 2020, settling at 5.9%. “The unemployed population (304.0 thousand) decreased from the three comparison periods: 6.6% [compared to the previous month], 7.4% [compared to three months earlier] and 12.3% [compared to a year earlier],” INE points out.
The employment rate stood at 63.3%, up 0.2 p.p. from November and up 2.2 p.p. from the same month in 2020. “The employed population (4,852.8 thousand) increased from the three comparison periods: 0.3% [compared to the previous month], 0.4% [compared to three months earlier] and 3.1% [compared to a year earlier],” Statistics Portugal indicated.
The active population fell 0.2% year-on-year to 5,169.9 thousand individuals. Compared to December 2020, there was an increase of 2.6%. As for the inactive population (2,515.8 thousand), it has increased from November 2021 (0.4%), remained unchanged from September of the same year and decrease from December 2020 (4.7%).
At last, the labour underutilisation rate was “identical” to the previous month and two p.p. lower than in the same month of 2020, i.e. 11.7%.
