By PAULO SILVESTRE [email protected]
The unemployment rate in Portugal in the second quarter of 2010 was standing at 10.6 per cent, maintaining the level attained in the first quarter.
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the official number of unemployed in the country in the second quarter was nearly 600,000 people.
This represents an annual increase over the same period last year of 16.2 per cent.
The number of people employed fell by 0.4 per cent, less than 2,400 people, compared with the first quarter and 1.7 per cent in comparison to the same period last year. Collectively, the unemployment rate in the first half of this year is the highest recorded since the INE began tracking unemployment in 1983.
Eurostat, which also conducts a survey of employment rates in Portugal, has released its data for July, which put the unemployment rate at 10.8 per cent, compared with 10.9 per cent in May and 10.8 per cent in April.
The unemployment rate among men fell slightly from 9.8 per cent in the first quarter to 9.7 in the second and increased among women, from 11.4 to 11.5 per cent.
Unemployment among young people fell from 22.7 per cent to 20.3 per cent, while in the same period last year it was 18.7 per cent.
The north of Portugal and the Algarve were the regions registering the highest unemployment rates in the second quarter (12.2 per cent in both).
The lowest rate was in the Azores (6.2 per cent) and in the central region of the country (7.7 per cent).
