According to preliminary data released this Wednesday by the National Statistical Institute (INE), the unemployment rate rose to 7.1% in January, the highest since November 2020 and comparable to 6.8% in December and 5.9% in January 2022.
According to INE’s Monthly Employment and Unemployment Estimates, “In January 2023, the unemployment rate increased to 7.1%, the highest reading since November 2020, when it stood at 7.3%.”
This survey from INE raised the unemployment rate for last December from an initially estimated 6.7% to 6.8%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month and 0.9 percentage points higher than a year earlier .
According to INE estimates, in January the active population (5,267.5 thousand) registered an increase compared to the previous month by 43.6 thousand people (0.8%) and increased by 1.4% compared to January 2022.
According to the Statistical Institute, the chain increase in the active population “is due to an increase in the employed population (24.0 thousand; 0.5%) and the unemployed population (19.6 thousand; 5.5%)”.
On the other hand, a chain decrease of 0.4% in the inactive population to 2,424,700, “the lowest value since February 1998,” was due “principally to a decrease in the number of inactive people available for work but not looking for work ( 7.5 thousand; 6.1%)”.
In January, the employed population (4,892.7 thousand) increased by 0.5% compared to the previous month and by 0.1% compared to the same month in 2022, while the unemployed population (374.8 thousand) increased compared to the previous month (up 5.5%) and compared to January 2022 (22.3%).
Estimated employment rate in January remained at 63.6% for the third consecutive month, below the high seen in October 2022 (63.8%), while the activity rate “reached the highest level since February 1998 (68.5%)” “.
“Underutilization of labor reached its highest value in January 2023 (671.7 thousand) since June 2021 (671.8 thousand), which was reflected in the indicator of labor underutilization (12.4%), which since this month has not been so high (12.6%),” INE clarifies.
The level of labor underutilization in January was 12.4% higher than in the previous month, by 0.2 percentage points. and by 0.9 p.p. compared to January 2022, and the number of people affected by underutilization of labor is higher than in the previous month by 12.7 thousand (1.9%), and by the same period by 57.4 thousand (9 .3%).
Author: morning Post This Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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