Young immigrants take less time to find a job than Portuguese immigrants.

They are mostly from Portuguese-speaking countries, have a secondary education and are concentrated in Lisbon. They need to work to obtain a residence permit and therefore accept “worse jobs”. This is why young immigrants registered with the job center took less time to find a job than Portuguese immigrants last year.

According to the study “Young people seeking employment in the IEFP: characteristics, trajectories and places of employment”, reported by the newspaper Public had access, while young citizens need an average of 11 months to find a job, immigrants can do so in five months. The figures become more contrasting when it comes to finding their first job: immigrants find work after four and a half months of searching, while the Portuguese find it after 15.5 months.

According to the study, in the second quarter of the year, of the 51,636 young people (aged 16 to 29) registered with the IEFP, 18.5% were immigrants. A figure that already reflects some representation among the unemployed population.

The investigation contradicts the idea that foreigners find it more difficult to integrate into the country and reveals “transformations in the Portuguese labour market, in which the immigrant population plays an increasingly important role.”

This group is mainly made up of young immigrants from CCLP countries (64.9%) with secondary education (63.5%). At the time of data collection, only a fifth were receiving unemployment benefits.

The study shows that “immigrants are willing to accept worse jobs than they initially expected.” The authors suggest this may be due to the increasing pressure they feel to obtain residency. “They are forced to accept these opportunities,” they say.

Of the 8,026 placements carried out by job centres in the second quarter of 2023, 21% concerned young immigrants.

The investigation also identifies two particularly vulnerable groups: young people with low qualifications and young people with higher education in fields with low employment rates.

36% of young people enrolled in the IEFP last year had less than a high school education and therefore face “clear difficulties in competing with an increasingly educated workforce.”

The scenario is also difficult for young people with degrees in social sciences, arts and humanities. They represented almost half of the young people who wrote to the IEFP last year. The researchers recommend better coordination between universities and the labour market to combat this problem.