The unemployment rate in Portugal fell to 16.3% in September, the lowest rate in a year, according to the data released today by Eurostat.
In January the rate was 17.7% but since then unemployment has fallen slightly and is still below the rates in other striken european countries such as Greece (27.6 %) and Spain (26.6 %), positioning Portugal at number 5 on the list of countries with the highest unemployment rates, against an EU average of 11%.
In September there were 864,000 unemployed in Portugal. Among young people the rate remained unchanged at 36.9% which maybe the lowest since June but is still the sixth highest rate in the European Union. Earlier this year in one of many rebudgets, the Portuguese government revised its projections for the unemployment rate to 16.4% for 2013.
Reacting to the figures released by Eurostat today, Pedro Mota Soares, Portugal’s Minister of Employment and Social Security, said that unemployment is the " biggest problem in the economy and our greatest social problem," but he added that "it is positive for the first time in five years, unemployment is down, not only from the previous month, but from the previous year."
"These are positive signs that give us hope and confidence to continue to work to create more jobs and combat unemployment, promote recruitment, these are the top priorities of the Government."
However the government is working against itself as the planned reduction in the public sector has seen 28,000 state employees leave in the past year, 60% through retirement and 38% by non renewal of their contracts. The remaining 2% died.
The savings are significant as the average salary for public sector workers in April of this year was €1,405 gross per month.
There are concerns that this slight decline in unemployment will be "consumed quickly" according to the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), due to further stern measures contained in the 2014 Budget which is being discussed in parliament at the moment.
The strong flow of people leaving the country is helping the figures, according to Communist MP Jorge Machado, adding that Eurostat's figures are "truly unsustainable" and represent the "waste of an entire generation paying the price of wrong policies.”
Algarve
More than 130 public services have closed down in the Algarve in the last ten years, with more closures to come. Tax offices, post offices, health centres, hospital wards, schools and courts are all under the microscope and if not already shut, will be closed by June next year in a region that already has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
