The latest quantitative information available for April and May, reveals historically high year-on-year rates of change, largely due to a base effect, as the comparison focuses on months heavily affected by the pandemic (April and May 2020), in which the lowest levels and the largest year-on-year decreases of the entire pandemic period were registered. However, in general, the short-term indicators have not yet reached the levels of the same period of 2019 in April and tourist activity is still far from the results of the same period of 2019. In the case of exports of goods in nominal terms, the level recorded in April was higher than in the same month of 2019.
The synthesis quantitative indicators (economic activity, private consumption and investment) presented, in April 2021, the maximum values of their respective series, reflecting the strong base effect caused by the intense reductions verified in April 2020. In May, the economic climate indicator increased considerably, exceeding the level observed at the beginning of the pandemic (March 2020).
According to the provisional monthly Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, was 6.9% in April, 0.3 percentage points more than in the previous month (6.9% in January and 6.4% in April 2020). The labour underutilization rate (16 to 74 years old) stood at 12.9%, same as in March (13.7% in the same period of 2020).
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) year-on-year rate of change was 1.2% in May 2021 (0.6% in April). The manufacturing price index recorded in May a year-on-year rate of change of 6.3% (3.4% in the previous month), the highest growth since August 2011.