Unemployment levels fell in all regions of the country, with the exception of the Azores, in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter, with the Algarve, Madeira and Lisbon registering significant falls.
According to figures released this morning by the National Statistics Institute the overall unemployment rate in Portugal was 15.6% in the third quarter, 0.8% below the previous quarter and down 0.2 points in same period in 2012.
Unemployment rates were higher than the national average in Lisbon (17.9%) in the Azores (17.7%) in Madeira (17.3%), the North (16.6%) and the Alentejo (16.1%).
The Algarve still struggles along with 18.8% of those of working age without employment but the rate did fall from July to September, mainly due to seasonal employment.
The total number of unemployed in Portugal was 838,600 at the end of September, an annual decrease of 3.7% and a quarterly decrease of 5.3 %. The number of people leaving the country to find work helps these figures and the unemployment rate for young people remains above 30%.
The social democrat Cristóvão Norte explains the drop in the number of unemployed in the Algarve is due to seasonality, but also with a slight reversal of the economic cycle.
"One part is explained by seasonality, another seems to be a more structural change for the better that appears to go hand in hand with the 8% growth in overnight stays in the Algarve’s hotels in October," said Norte, adding that the "Algarve region is no longer the region most battered by unemployment" and the fall in unemployment "has been significant and sustained."
More than 430,000 young Portuguese neither study nor work, according to the National Statistics Institute. This record number was recorded last year and shows the difficulty of young people that have little or no experience in the workplace.
The problem especially affects people with poor education but those with qualifications also are unable to find work.
Despite the dire conditions faced by the country’s young, Poiares Maduro Deputy Minister and Regional Development said in Parliament today that "we can not waste all the effort made so far."
At the 2014 State Budget debate Maduro made a guarantee to the public, "the worst is over and we can not waste all the efforts we have made so far,” referring to the decline in the unemployment rate to 15.6% .
However in just one week in early November a further 3,000 were back on the dole in the Algarve as employment centres registered the results of the end of summer trading.
Helpfully, newly unemployed can sign up via the Internet ‘to avoid queues.’
"As a consequence of the end of a high number of fixed-term work contracts at the end of October, mostly in the hospitality sector , there has been a significant flow of unemployed workers to the employment services in the region in the last week" according to the regional Institute of Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP).
In order to reduce waiting times and to support users during that period, IEFP laid on extra staff for care and support services.
In Lagos there was a queue of over 100 people with some camping out overnight just to get their names registered and to make an appointment.
The IEFP said that despite the high demand in the Algarve, the enrollment process ran smoothly.
