Unemployment rate increased to 6.8% in the first quarter

The unemployment rate stood at 6.8% in the first quarter of this year. According to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), it means a decrease compared to the same period last year, but an increase compared to the last quarter of last year.

It is important to remember that the latest data shows that unemployment fell to 6.5% in March. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the unemployment rate had risen to 6.6%.

According to data released today, the employed population stood at 5,019.7 thousand people, which represents an increase of 0.8%, or 39.2 thousand) compared to the previous quarter and 1.8% (90.2 thousand) in relation to the same quarter of the previous year. Teleworking continues to be a bet, with the proportion of the population employed in teleworking standing at 19.7% (988.1 thousand people), meaning 1.9 percentage points more than in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The statistical body estimated the unemployed population at 368.2 thousand people, which means an increase of 3.8% (13.6 thousand) compared to the previous quarter. Even so, Portugal lost 12,900 unemployed people, a decrease of 3.4%, compared to the period between January and March of last year.

The “underutilization of labor covered 646.1 thousand people, which corresponds to an increase of 1.5% (9.3 thousand) in relation to the previous quarter and a decrease of 5.0% (33.6 thousand) compared to the same period last year”, indicates INE. Meanwhile, the labor underutilization rate, estimated at 11.7%, increased compared to the previous quarter (0.1 pp) and decreased year-on-year (0.8 pp).

The inactive population aged 16 and over, estimated at 3,598.7 thousand people, increased by 1.7%, 61.2 thousand more compared to the previous quarter and 1.9% (67 thousand) compared to the same period last year.