But numbers employed ‘highest since records began’
The unemployment rate in Portugal rose to 6.5 % in September, 0.4 percentage points higher than in the same month of 2022 and 0.1 percentage points more than in August, according to INE’s provisional estimates published today.
“In September 2023, the unemployment rate stood at 6.5 %, equalling the figure for April 2023, and the inactivity rate (31.2 %) recorded the lowest figure in the series,” said the data.
Indeed, the final estimates for August, revised the unemployment rate for that month upwards to 6.4%, compared to the 6.2% initially forecast.
In September, the unemployed general public totalled 343,600 people, an increase on the previous month (of 2.2%), for June 2023 (of 2.7%) and compared to September 2022 (up 7.5%).
The underutilisation of labour rate stood at 11.7% – the same as the previous month and three months earlier, but higher than in September 2022 (+0.3 percentage points).
In September 2023, the activity rate was the highest in the series that began in 1998 (68.8%).
In August this year, both the employed population (4,950,100) and the employment rate (64.4%) were at their highest since 1998.
The labour force (5,287,300) remained practically unchanged in September compared to August – having increased by +0.3% compared to June 2023 and by +11.6% compared to September 2022.
The inactive general public (2,402,500) also remained practically stable compared to the previous month, having decreased compared to three months earlier (0.6%) and one year earlier (2.1%).
Final estimates of employment and unemployment for August show that the unemployed population totalled 336,300, virtually unchanged from the previous month, down from three months earlier (0.7%) and up from a year earlier (6.3%).
In August, the labour underutilisation rate stood at 11.7 % -, an increase on the previous month (0.1 %), unchanged from three months earlier and up on the same period the previous year (0.2 percentage points).
In that month, the labour force (5,286,400 people) increased compared to July and May 2023 (0.1 % in both) and August 2022 (1.7 %).
Likewise, the employed population (4,950,100) increased in relation to the three comparison periods: 0.1%, 0.2% and 1.4%, respectively, while the inactive public (2,403,000) decreased in relation to the three comparison periods: 0.2%, 0.2% and 2.3%, respectively.
Source: LUSA
