“The 2021 unemployment rate stood at 6.6%, decreased by 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous year and equalled the 2019 rate, thus corresponding, similarly to that year’s value, to the annual unemployment rate″, points out the statistics office, adding that “the youth unemployment rate (16 to 24 years old) stood at 23.4%, 0.9 percentage points above the estimated for the previous year".

The reading is in line with the forecast announced by Banco de Portugal in the Economic Bulletin released in December. The supervisor led by Mário Centeno predicts a further decline in the unemployment rate to 6% in 2022.

In this context, INE adds that, in 2021, there were 4.81 million people employed, that is, 128.6 thousand more people compared to 2020 (+2.7%). On the other hand, the number of unemployed dropped to 338.8 thousand people, that is, 12 thousand (3.4%) less than in the same period last year.