Lisbon, Aug. 12, 2026 (Lusa) - More than half of those who were unemployed in the first quarter of this year remained unemployed in the second quarter, whilst almost 30% found work, according to figures released on Wednesday by Statistics Portugal (INE).
According to the «Statistics on flows between labour market statuses» for the second quarter of this year, of the total number of people who were unemployed in the first quarter of 2026, 50.6% (175,300) remained unemployed until June, 29.7% (102,800) moved into employment and 19.7% (68,200) moved into inactivity.
During the same period, 32.4% (50,500) of unemployed men and 27.5% (52,300) of unemployed women moved into employment.
Of the total number of people who were in employment in the first quarter, 97.4% (5,162,100) remained in that status in the following quarter, whilst 1.2% (63,400) moved into unemployment and 1.4% (75,300) moved into economic inactivity.
As a result, the net flow into employment (total entries minus total exits) was positive and estimated at 99,000, whilst the net flow into unemployment was negative and estimated at 45,500 people, as the total number of people who moved into unemployment (125,500) was lower than the number who left that status (171,000).
Furthermore, between the first and second quarters of this year, 37.2% (83,000) of the short-term unemployed and 24.9% (30,200) of the economically inactive belonging to the «potential labour force» moved into employment.
At the same time, 11.1% (88,900) of those who were self-employed and 27.9% (96,600) of those who were unemployed moved into salaried employment.
The data released today also indicate that, of the total number of employees who, in the first quarter of 2026, had a fixed-term contract or another type of contract, 24.5% (155,300) moved to a permanent contract in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, of the number of people who, in the first quarter of 2026, were in part-time employment, 22.3% (91,300) moved to full-time work in the following three months.
The proportion of people who remained in employment between the first and second quarters of 2026 but changed jobs stood at 3.1% (160,100).
Over the same period, 3.4% (176,800) of those who remained in employment continued to hold two or more jobs, and 2.0% (102,600) of those who were in employment went on to hold two or more jobs.
Of the total number of young people aged 16 to 34 who, in the first quarter, were neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET), 26.2% (50,900) moved into employment in the second quarter, whilst 16.3% (31,600) began attending education or training.
The results for the first quarter of 2026, published by Eurostat on 12 June, relating to labour market transitions among the population aged 15 to 74, indicate that 22.4% of people who were unemployed in Portugal in the fourth quarter of 2025 moved into employment, the figure is 2.1 percentage points higher than that of the European Union (20.3%).
During the same period, 16.6% of unemployed people in Portugal moved into inactivity, whilst in the European Union this figure stood at 23.4%.
PD/AYLS // AYLS
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