Unemployment rate stood at 5.8% in February
The unemployment rate remained at 5.8% in February compared to January, but dropped 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous three months.
Statistics Portugal (INE) lowered the unemployment rate in January and estimated that the rate in February will be unchanged from the beginning of the month.
In a previously released information note, INE indicated that the unemployment rate had fallen 0.2 points in January compared to December, to 6%. Now, the statistics office reports that the unemployment rate in January stood at 5.8%.
As for February, INE revealed the rate had stabilised at 5.8%, down 0.4 percentage points on the three previous months and 1 percentage point on the same month last year, and 1 percentage point less than the same month last year. This corresponds to “the lowest figure in the last 10 years,” the statistics office stated.
However, INE’s data points to a drop in the employed population. In February, there were 4,868,300 thousand people employed in Portugal, representing a decline of 0.3% compared to January 2022, but an increase of 0.3% from three months before and 4.2% from a year earlier.
