According to ECO, the Portuguese labour market continues to show signs of stability.

According to data released today by the National Statistics Institute (INE), in May the employed population “remained practically unchanged”, while the unemployment rate increased very slightly.

“The unemployment rate stood at 6.5 %, 0.1 percentage points higher than in April 2020 and May 2023,” says the statistics office, in the highlight published today.

In total, in the fifth month of the year there were 351 thousand unemployed people in Portugal, 2.4% more than in April and 3.9% more than a year ago, adds the INE.

On the other hand, the employment rate stood at 64.2% in May, lower than in the previous month and in the same period last year. However, there are very slight declines at stake, of 0.1 percentage points and 0.2 percentage points, respectively.

Regarding the absolute number of individuals with work in Portugal, the INE notes that this universe remained “practically unchanged in relation to the previous month”, although it increased by 1.3% compared to the figure recorded a year ago: in total, 5,016.6 thousand people had a job in May. This is the third highest value in the last decade, after April 2024 (5,016.9 thousand) and March of the same year (5,022.9 thousand), highlights the statistics office.

Based on these employment and unemployment trajectories, May was synonymous with a year-on-year increase in the active population, which totaled 5,376.6 thousand individuals.

“In the case of the active population, this resulted from the increase in the unemployed population, since the employed population remained practically unchanged”, is explained in the statistical highlight published this morning.

The inactive population (2,443.4 thousand) “remained practically unchanged in relation to the previous month and increased in relation to a year earlier (1.9%)”.

This chain stability is the result, it should be explained, of the “balance” between the decrease of 5.6% of inactive people available to work, but who are not looking for a job, the increase of 0.1% of other inactive people, and the increase of 7. 9% of inactive people looking for a job, but are not available to embrace a new opportunity.

The INE also reports that the labor underutilisation rate stood at 11.1%, “the same value as in April 2024, but lower than that of May 2023 (0.6 percentage points)”.