Portugal’s president used his Labour Day bank holiday address to warn of mounting economic and social pressures on workers, arguing that insecure employment and rising living costs are undermining the promise that work should guarantee a dignified life.
In a message this 1st May, António José Seguro framed the occasion not simply as an annual commemoration but as a reminder of the historic struggle that shaped modern labour rights. Work, he said, remains central to personal dignity and social cohesion, allowing individuals to “build their lives, affirm their dignity, and contribute to their community”.
But this year’s Labour Day, he cautioned, arrives amidst “a time of deep uncertainty”. Armed conflicts, economic slowdown, and persistent inflation have combined to squeeze household incomes, with rising prices “eroding wages before the end of the month”. At the same time, rapid advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are transforming employment at a speed “no previous generation has experienced”.
Seguro reserved particular criticism for the spread of precarious employment, describing job insecurity as something that has embedded itself “in too many contracts and too many lives, as if it were inevitable”.
History, he argued, offers a different lesson. Workers have faced comparable moments of disruption before, and progress was achieved not through resignation but through collective action and political choice. “The fairest societies we know were built through organisation, determination and the struggle for rights,” he said.
While technological change is unavoidable, its social consequences are not predetermined, the president added. Political decisions and effective regulation will determine whether innovation widens inequality or improves living standards. “Precarious work is not a law of nature,” he said. “Work must pay, it must cover housing, food, and the future of our children.”
Addressing Portuguese workers both at home and across the diaspora, Seguro pledged that his presidency would not remain indifferent to labour concerns. “I will never silently accept that those who work cannot live with dignity,” he said.
The president’s warning coincided with new figures highlighting structural challenges in Portugal’s labour market.
Data released by the Pordata statistical database show Portugal has one of the longest average working weeks in the European Union, while wages remain significantly below the bloc’s average.
Portuguese employees worked an average of 39.7 hours per week in 2025, compared with an EU average of 37 hours, placing the country fifth among member states with the heaviest workloads. Only Greece, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria recorded longer working weeks.
The contrast with northern European economies is stark. Countries with widespread part-time employment, including the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany, report substantially shorter average working hours, with weekly totals often below 36 hours.
More than five million people are employed in Portugal out of the EU’s workforce of roughly 208 million. Despite relatively strong employment rates amongst young adults aged 25 to 29, Portugal combines high labour participation with comparatively low wages and widespread temporary contracts.
The average full-time adjusted salary in Portugal stood at €2,068 in 2024, well below the EU average of €3,317. Although the national minimum wage rose from €870 gross in 2025 to €920 in 2026, income growth has struggled to keep pace with living costs.
Temporary employment remains another defining feature of the labour market. Whilst around 13% of EU employees work under fixed-term contracts, the proportion rises to 15.1% in Portugal, placing it among the countries with the highest levels of job insecurity alongside the Netherlands, Poland, France, and Spain.
The situation is particularly acute among younger workers. Nearly four in ten Portuguese employees under 30 hold temporary contracts, making Portugal the fourth-highest country in the EU for youth precarious employment.
Foreign workers face even greater instability. Almost 34% are employed under temporary arrangements, compared with roughly 14% of Portuguese nationals, one of the largest nationality gaps recorded in the bloc.
Part-time work, by contrast, remains relatively uncommon in Portugal, accounting for just 8.1% of employment compared with an EU average of 18.8%. Across Europe such arrangements are far more prevalent amongst women and younger workers, although gender differences are less pronounced in Portugal.
Levels of self-employment broadly mirror the European pattern, standing at 14.7% of the workforce against an EU average of 13.7%.
The publication of the figures also comes amidst growing labour tensions. Portugal’s largest trade union confederation, the CGTP, has called a general strike for 3rd June in protest against the government’s proposed labour reforms.
For Seguro, the answer remains political rather than inevitable. Labour Day, he suggested, holds at its crux a reminder that the dignity of employment must continue to be defended in an era of rapid change.
Source: LUSA
