In the 4th quarter of 2018
The unemployment rate stood at 6.7%, equal to the previous quarter value and lower than the year-on-year rate by 1.4 percentage points (pp). That value still corresponds to the lowest rate of the data series started in the 1st quarter of 2011.
The unemployed population, estimated at 349.1 thousand people, has decreased by 1.0% (3.6 thousand) from the previous quarter, resuming the quarterly decreases observed since the 2nd quarter of 2016 and interrupted in the previous quarter, and by 17,3% (72,9 thousand) from the 2017 year-on-year value.
The employed population, 4,883.0 thousand people, has decreased by 0.4% (19.8 thousand) from the previous quarter and has increased by 1.6% (78.1 thousand) from the year-on-year value.
The youth (15 to 24 years old) unemployment rate stood at 19.9%, down 0.1 pp and 3.6 pp, respectively, from the previous quarter and from the year-on-year quarter. The share of unemployed people looking for a job for 12 months or longer (long-term unemployment) was 47.8%, down 2.2 pp and 6.3 pp, respectively, from the previous quarter and from the year-on-year quarter.

In 2018
The unemployment rate stood at 7.0%, down 1.9 pp from 2017.
The unemployed population, 365.9 thousand people, has decreased by 20.9% (96.9 thousand) from the previous year, while the employed population, 4,866.7 thousand people, has increased by 2.3% (110.1 thousand).
The young people (aged 15 to 24) unemployment rate stood at 20.3%, 3.6 pp less than in the previous year. The proportion of long-term unemployment was 51.1%, having decreased by 6.4 pp from the former year.
The labour underutilisation rate was 13.7%, 2.8 pp lower than that of the previous year, corresponding to the lowest value of the data series started in 2011.
Among the young people aged 15 to 34 residing in Portugal, 9.9% were not in employment, in education or training (218.2 thousand), a share that has decreased by 1.3 pp (33.1 thousand) from 2017.
The three Europe 2020 indicators – employment rate of those aged 20 to 64, early leavers from education and training rate, and tertiary educational attainment rate – whose targets, established for Portugal, are 75%, 10%, and 40%, respectively, were estimated at 75.4%, 11.8%, and 33.5% (73.4%, 12.6%, and 33.5% in 2017).