Collective layoffs and layoffs are soaring, businesspeople talk about the deterioration of the economic situation

These are warning signs that need to be monitored closely. In the first three months of the year, the number of workers covered by collective layoffs almost doubled compared to the same period in 2023, covering 1,549 workers. And in the ‘layoff’ (mechanism that allows companies in difficult situations to temporarily suspend the contract or reduce workers’ hours) the scenario is no longer encouraging. In March this year, 10,827 workers were covered by layoff, more than double the number registered in the same month last year.

Sector associations talk about the impact of war, inflation, and the decline in consumption on day-to-day factory life. “When orders fail and there is no work, companies only have two chances of survival: reduce the number of workers or resort to ‘layoff’”, comments the president of ATP – Associação Têxtil e Vestuário de Portugal, Mário Jorge Machado, in expectation of March export numbers to understand “if there are already some signs of improvement in the near future”.

In the case of footwear, where unemployment increased by more than 80% in one year, between March 2022 and the same month of 2023, Paulo Gonçalves, director of communications at the sectoral association APICCAPS, notes that the current situation “reflects the deterioration of the scenario in 2023 , after a record year, in 2022, with companies organizing themselves for the first time to go subcontracting to Morocco and Tunisia, as they had completely exhausted their capacity to hire labor in Portugal”.