Portugal’s unemployment rate fell to 7.1% in November, 0.4 percentage points lower than in October, but 0.4 percentage points higher than in the same month of 2019, according to figures released on Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), Lusa news agency reported.
According to the figures released by the INE, the unemployment rate continued to fall in December in monthly terms to 6.5%, 0.6 percentage points less compared to the previous month and 0.2 percentage points less in year-on-year terms.
The unemployed population decreased by 4.7% in November compared to October 2020 to 368.9,000 people, having increased by 6.3% compared to November 2019 (22,000 people).
Last Wednesday the former minister of finance and the current head of the Bank of Portugal, Mário Centeno, told broadcaster RTP3 that the Portuguese economy’s performance in the fourth quarter of 2020 had been better than expected despite the harsh new measures introduced to fight COVID-19.
