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Slight respite in employment levels

FACTORYmERCThe unemployment rate in Portugal was reported to be 13.5% as of March 2015.

This represents a decline in the jobless level from a year earlier when it stood at 14.7%.

There are now 693,000 Portuguese without work, down from 762,000 in March 2014.

Unemployment has been falling throughout much of the eurozone, bringing the average to 11.3% in March 2015 down from 11.7% in March 2014.

While the highest levels in the eurozone remain in Greece (25.7%) and Spain (23%), Portugal nevertheless suffers the fourth highest rate in the region.

Eurostat reckons there are now 18.1 million people just in the euro area who have no jobs, while for the EU as a whole a shocking 23.7 million people have to get by without work.

Young people continue under a heavy cloud of uncertainty for their futures.

Although the rate in Portugal fell from 36% last March, it is still running at a high 33.8% with 123,000 young people unemployed.

They are part of the 3.215 million youth in the eurozone who did not have jobs.

The worst situations remain in Greece and Spain where both economies have failed to create employment opportunities for 50% of their young people.

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