Statistics Portugal : In October, the employed population increased by 0.8%, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points and the labour underutilisation decreased by 0.5 percentage points

Summary

October 2020 - definitive estimates:
• The employed population has increased by 0.8% from the previous month and by 2.0% from three months before, but it has decreased by 1.7% from the same month of 2019 .
• The unemployed population has decreased by 4.9% from September 2020 and by 4.1% from July of the same year, having increased by 14.8% from October 2019.
• The unemployment rate (concept of the International Labour Organization, ILO) stood at 7.5%, 0.4 percentage points (pp) less than in the previous month and than in three months before and 1.0 pp more than in the same month of the previous year.
• The labour underutilisation rate was estimated at 14.9%, down 0.5 pp from the previous month, down 0.7 pp from three months before and up 2.4 pp from a year earlier.

November 2020 - provisional estimates:
• The employed population has increased by 0.6% from the previous month and by 2.0% from three months before, having decreased by 0.9% from the same month of 2019.
• The unemployed population has decreased by 3.1% from October 2020 and by 9.4% from August of the same year and increased by 8.1% from November 2019.
• The unemployment rate (ILO concept) stood at 7.2%, down 0.3 pp from the previous month, down 0.9 pp from three months before and up 0.5 pp from the same month of 2019.
• The labour underutilisation rate was estimated at 14.0%, 0.9 pp less than in the previous month and 1.5 pp less than August 2020, and 1.5 pp more than a year earlier.
• The monthly decrease of the labour underutilisation rate in this month was due to the decrease of all of its indicators, especially the number of inactive available to work but not seeking a job (down 8.9%).

Despite the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics Portugal calls for the best cooperation from enterprises, households and public bodies in responding to Statistics Portugal's requests. The quality of official statistics, particularly their ability to identify the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, crucially depends on this cooperation, for which Statistics Portugal thanks you in advance.