Lisbon, May 7, 2025 (Lusa) - The unemployment rate in Portugal stood at 6.6% in the first quarter, 0.2 percentage points lower than in the same quarter of 2024 and 0.1 percentage points lower than in the previous quarter, according to Statistics Portugal (INE).
According to "Employment Statistics", between January and March, the unemployed population, estimated at 365,800 people, fell by 0.7% (2,500) compared to the previous quarter and 1.0% (3,800) compared to the same quarter last year.
The youth unemployment rate (16 to 24 years old), estimated at 21.2%, decreased compared to the previous quarter (0.6 percentage points) and the same quarter last year (1.8 percentage points).
The employed population (5,181,400 people) increased by 0.6% (32,600) compared to the previous quarter and by 2.4% (122,000) compared to the same quarter of 2024, reaching the highest value in the series started in 2011.
In the first quarter of this year, 36.9% of the unemployed population had been unemployed for 12 months or more (long-term unemployment), 0.6 percentage points less than in the previous quarter and 3.8 percentage points above the same quarter of the previous year.
According to INE data released on Wednesday, the weight of very long-term unemployment (24 months or more) in long-term unemployment (49.3%) decreased by 10.8 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and 6.3 percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2024.
In the first quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate was higher than the national average (6.6%) in five NUTS II (NUTS-2024) regions of the country: Setúbal Peninsula with 8.5%, Algarve with 8.1%, North with 6.8%, Greater Lisbon with 6.8% and the Autonomous Region of Madeira with 6.7%.
In the remaining four regions - Oeste and Vale do Tejo with 5.9%, Alentejo with 5.8%, the Autonomous Region of the Azores with 5.7% and Centro with 5.1% - it was lower than the national average.
Compared to the previous quarter, the unemployment rate increased in four regions (INE highlighting the 2.5 percentage point increase in the Algarve), remained unchanged in the Alentejo, and decreased in the remaining four NUTS II regions, with a notable 0.7 percentage point reduction in the Centre region.
A similar pattern was seen in the year-on-year comparison, with increases in four regions (the largest of which was 0.8 percentage points in Madeira), decreases in four other NUTS II regions (notably in the Centre region, which fell by 1.4 percentage points), and the unemployment rate remaining unchanged in the North region.
From January to March, the employment rate stood at 56.6%, up 0.1 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2024 and 0.6 percentage points from the first quarter of 2024.
The INE details that 20.9% (1,083,000 people) of the employed population was teleworking, representing an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 and 1.7 percentage points compared to the first quarter of that year.
Underutilisation of labour covered 628,400 people, an increase of 0.5% (2,900) compared to the previous quarter and a decrease of 3.4% (21,900) compared to the same period last year.
The labour underutilisation rate, estimated at 11.1%, remained unchanged from the previous quarter and decreased by 0.6 percentage points year-on-year.
The inactive population aged 16 and over (3,750,800 people) increased by 0.4% (13,500) compared to the previous quarter and by 0.4% (16,800) compared to the same period last year.
INE estimated the active population at 5,547,200 in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 0.5% (30,000 people) compared to the previous quarter and 2.2% (118,300) compared to the same period in 2024.
This evolution was reflected in the activity rate of the working-age population (aged 16 to 89), which stood at 60.6% and increased by 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and 0.5 percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2024.
PD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
