Around 60,000 people on social welfare provision aren’t actively seeking employment in Portugal.
Data cross-checking between the Social Security and the Employment and Training Institute in Portugal concluded that 60,000 people benefitting from the Rendimento Social de Inserção (RSI), previously the guaranteed minimum wage, aren’t registered at job centres.
Even so, the State has to spend around €5.5 million on welfare payments for these people, “all of whom,” said a government source, “are physically and emotionally capable of participating in the labour market”.
“These people do not constitute exceptions and, according to new labour laws, will be forced to seek employment or face losing the benefit,” said the source.
On average, an individual on RSI receives €91 a month, while a family receives €244.
In February, around 3,900 families in Portugal on RSI were receiving more than €600 a month.
From now on, RSI beneficiaries will have to sign a ‘reinsertion contract’ each year, during which an assessment of their financial situation will be made and requirements to receive the benefit checked.
