The national economy suffered in May with more than 26.6 thousand unemployed, an increase of 8.5% from a year ago, of which 10.1 thousand, which is almost 40%, are young people between 16 and 24 years old, according to preliminary data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) released this Wednesday.
For example, there were 338,600 citizens of working age without a job in May, compared to 312,000 compared to the same period last year, the statistics office reports. Broken down by age group, the increase in unemployment was higher among the 16 to 24 year olds, with an increase of 16.7% compared to the same month last year.
However, if we analyze the global figures, there are more unemployed among adults, i.e. between 25 and 74 years old: 268.1 thousand, a number that increased by 6.6% (16.5 thousand) in May compared to the 251.6 thousand Portuguese without a job. 2022.
By gender, unemployment rose more among the male population, which recorded an increase of 8.7%, while this indicator showed a positive variation of 8.4% among women. However, if we look at the absolute figures, we see that female employees continue to be punished more severely. In May 177.8 thousand women were unemployed, which is 13.7 thousand more than a year ago, when the register indicated 164.1 thousand in that condition. Unemployment among men affected 160.8 thousand citizens last month, an increase of 12.9 thousand compared to the 147.9 thousand who were unemployed in May 2022.
The underutilization of work, which aggregates the unemployed population, the underemployment of part-time workers, the inactive looking for a job but not available, and the inactive who are available but not looking for a job, also grew in the homologous equation. In total, there were 645,000 workers in those situations, an increase of 5% or 30,800 civilians compared to 614,200 a year ago.
In this indicator, not only is the 8.5% increase in the number of unemployed, but also the deterioration of the precarious situation, ie the underemployment of part-time workers. In May, 150.3 thousand citizens had an insecure contract, an increase of 5.8% or 8.2 thousand employees compared to the 142.1 thousand a year ago, according to the INE statistical series.
Unemployment increases compared to 2022
If we now look at the unemployment rate, which measures the weight of the unemployed population in relation to the total economically active population, i.e. the percentage of unemployed per 100 active persons aged between 16 and 74, Portugal is worse off than a years ago.years, although the monthly variation indicates a fall in unemployment.
“The unemployment rate was 6.4%, lower than that of April and February 2023 (0.1 and 0.5 percentage point, respectively), but higher than that of May 2022 (0.4 percentage point),” INE said.
In line with the evolution of the absolute figures, the unemployment rate among men increased by 0.4 percentage point, from 5.7% to 6.1%, on an annual basis. In the female population, this indicator increased by 0.5 point, from 6.3% to 6.8%. With regard to youth unemployment, the indicator shows a very slight increase, namely by 0.1 point, from 18.5% to 18.6%.
In addition, underutilization of work was 11.9%, the same value as the previous month, but 0.2 percentage points lower than the three months before and 0.4 percentage points higher than the same month last year.
The unemployment rate for April was revised from 6.8% (announced in May) to 6.5%, representing a 0.3 percentage point drop from the previous month, from 0.5 point from three months earlier and an increase of 0.6 points compared to the same month of 2022.
The unemployment rate was 6.4% in May, an increase of 0.4 percentage point year-on-year. The indicator for April was revised down to 6.5%.
In May, the inactive population (2,416,800) registered increases compared to the previous month and three months before (0.1% and 0.2% respectively) and a decrease compared to the same period of the previous year (2.5 %).
The active population (5,270,400) was down from the previous month, representing almost zero relative variation, and 0.1% compared to February 2023, an increase of 1.7% compared to May 2022.
The working population (4,931,800) registered a positive relative change from the previous month (0.1%), as well as from three months earlier (0.3%) and compared to May last year (1.3 %).
Source: DN
