Lisbon, May 14, 2025 (Lusa) - Almost 60% of those unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2024 remained unemployed in the first quarter of this year, with 24.2% finding work, Statistics Portugal (INE) said on Wednesday.
According to the "Statistics on flows between states in the labour market", of the total number of people who were unemployed in the last quarter of 2024, 59.4% (218,800) remained unemployed in the first quarter of 2025, 24.2% (89,200) moved into employment and 16.4% (60,400) moved into inactivity.
Of the total number of people who were employed in the fourth quarter of 2024, 96.8% (4,985,700) remained in this state in the first quarter of 2025, while 1.4% (69,900) transitioned to unemployment and 1.8% (93,200) transitioned to inactivity.
As a result, the net flow of employment (total entries minus total exits) was positive by 32,600 people, while the net flow of unemployment was negative by 2,500 people. The total number of people who transitioned to unemployment (147,100) was lower than the total number of those who left that status (149,600).
"In the first quarter of 2025, it can be seen that the net flow between employment and unemployment is what contributes to the decrease in unemployment, as the difference between the total number of people who moved from employment to unemployment (69,900) and the total number of those who moved from unemployment to employment (89,200) is negative and lower than the difference between the total number of people who moved from inactivity to unemployment (77,200) and the total number of those who moved from unemployment to inactivity (60,400)," explains INE.
By gender, the statistical institute estimates that 27.0% (48,600) of unemployed men and 21.5% (40,500) of unemployed women in the fourth quarter of 2024 transitioned to employment in the first quarter of this year.
In the same period, 15.1% (27,200) of men and 17.7% (33,300) of unemployed women became inactive.
Also, from the last quarter of 2024 to the first three months of this year, 31.1% (71,700) of the short-term unemployed and 18.0% (20,100) of the inactive belonging to the "potential labour force" transitioned to employment.
In the same period, 9.3% (70,200) of self-employed persons and 21.6% (79,700) of unemployed persons moved to employment.
The data released today also shows that, of the total number of employees who had a fixed-term or other type of contract in the fourth quarter of 2024, 24.3% (168,000) moved to a permanent contract in the first quarter of 2025.
Of those with part-time jobs in the last quarter of 2024, 21.6% (95,800) started working full-time in the first quarter of 2025.
The percentage of people who remained employed between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of this year but changed jobs stood at 3.3% (165,900).
In the same period, 3.6% (181,000) of those who remained employed continued to have two or more jobs and 2.0% (100,400) of those who had a job started to have two or more jobs.
Of the total number of young people aged 16 to 34 who were not in employment, education or training (NEET) in the fourth quarter of 2024, 23.8% (47,200) moved into employment in the first quarter of 2025, while 12.6% (24,900) started education or training.
The results for the fourth quarter of 2024, released by Eurostat on 14 March 2025, on flows between labour market states for the population aged 15 to 74, indicate that 28.4% of people who were unemployed in Portugal in the third quarter of 2024 moved into employment, which is 3.0 percentage points higher than the European Union average (25.4%).
In the same period, 17.4% of unemployed people in Portugal moved into inactivity, while in the European Union this flow stood at 25.8%.
PD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
