Unemployment rate rose to 6.5% in September

According to preliminary INE estimates published this Thursday, the unemployment rate increased to 6.5% in September, 0.4 percentage points higher than the same month in 2022 and 0.1 percentage points higher than in August.

“In September 2023, the unemployment rate was 6.5%, the same as in April 2023, and the unemployment rate (31.2%) registered the lowest value in the series,” emphasizes the Institute for National Statistics (INE).

Data provided by the statistics institute, with precise estimates for August, shows the unemployment rate for the month will rise to 6.4%, up from 6.2% originally forecast by INE.

In September, the unemployed population amounted to 343.6 thousand people, which represents an increase compared to the previous month (2.2%), June 2023 (2.7%) and September 2022 (7.5%).

The rate of labor underutilization was 11.7%, the same as the previous month and three months ago, but higher than in September 2022 (0.3 percentage points).

In September 2023, the activity level registered the highest value in the series starting in 1998 (68.8%).

In the previous month (August), both the employed population (4950.1 thousand) and the employment rate (64.4%) recorded their highest values ​​since this year.

The active population (5,287.3 thousand) in September remained virtually unchanged compared to August 2023, increasing by 0.3% compared to June 2023 and by 11.6% compared to September 2022.

The inactive population (2,402.5 thousand) also remained virtually stable compared to the previous month, having decreased compared to three months earlier (0.6%) and a year ago (2.1%).

As for the final estimates of employment and unemployment for August, they indicate that the unemployed population amounted to 336.3 thousand people, remaining virtually unchanged compared to the previous month, decreasing compared to three months earlier (0.7%) and increasing compared with the same month (6.3%).

In August, the labor underutilization rate was 11.7%, an increase from the previous month (0.1%), unchanged from three months earlier and an increase from the same period (0.2 percentage points).

This month, the active population (5,286.4 thousand people) increased compared to July and May 2023 (by 0.1% in both cases) and August 2022 (1.7%).

At the same time, the employed population (4950.1 thousand) also increased in relation to the three comparison periods: 0.1%, 0.2% and 1.4%, respectively, and the inactive population (2403.0 thousand) decreased in relation to three comparison periods: 0.2%, 0.2% and 2.3%, respectively.