The unemployment rate was 6.8% in the first quarter, 0.4 percentage points lower than the same quarter last year, but 0.2 points higher than the previous quarter, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) said.
According to employment statistics, between January and March the unemployed population, estimated at 368,200, increased by 3.8% (13,600) compared to the previous quarter and decreased by 3.4% (12,900) compared to the same period 2023.
The employed population (5,019.7 thousand people) increased by 0.8% (39.2 thousand people) compared to the previous quarter and by 1.8% (90.2 thousand people) compared to the same quarter last year of the year.
Between January and March, 19.7% (988,100 people) of the employed population worked remotely, representing an increase of 1.9 percentage points from the previous quarter.
The labor underutilization rate is estimated at 11.7%, representing an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter and a decrease of 0.8 point from the same period last year.
During the analyzed period, underutilization of labor affected 646.1 thousand people, which corresponds to an increase of 1.5% (9.3 thousand) compared to the previous quarter and a decrease of 5% (33.6 thousand) compared to the same quarter. period of last year.
The inactive population aged 16 and over (3,598,700) increased by 1.7% (61,200) from the previous quarter and by 1.9% (67,000) from the same period last year.