In another stark reminder that figures can be “massaged”, news from INE (the national statistics institute) shows that half-a-million unemployed people have simply been dropped from benefit registers. “The lack of government support to people who have lost their jobs” has translated into a reduction of €346.7 million in social security spending, reports national tabloid Correio da Manhã. Meantime, “more than 863,000 people remain out of work”.
CM was basing its figures on INE’s latest report, taking the situation in Portugal up to the end of June.
The paper claims “it is a situation that will not be very different to the one now”.
But “only around 267,000 jobless are receiving Social Security support”, the paper explains, “which leaves more than half a million without any kind of unemployment benefit”.
