According to the Employment Statistics published on 10 February by the National Statistics Institute (INE), in 2020, the unemployment rate in the Northern region equalled the national average (6.8 percent), while the rates in the Algarve (8.3 percent), the Autonomous Region of Madeira (7.9 percent) and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (7.7 percent) were above that threshold.

The unemployment rate was 6.8 percent in 2020, up 0.3 percentage points on 2019, below the Government's forecast for the year as a whole (of 8.7 percent).

Below average were the rates of the remaining regions: the Autonomous Region of the Azores with 6.1 percent, the Alentejo with 5.9 percent and the Centre with 5.6 percent.

In relation to 2019, according to INE, the unemployment rate increased in five regions, with the largest increase observed in the Algarve (1.2 percentage points), and decreased in two regions - Alentejo (1 percentage point) and the Autonomous Region of the Azores (1.8 percentage point).

For the fourth quarter, according to data, the unemployment rate was 7.1 percent, down 0.7 percentage points on the previous quarter and 0.4 percentage points over the same quarter.

In regional terms, the unemployment rate was higher than the national average in four regions of the country: the Autonomous Region of Madeira (10.7 percent), Algarve (9.9 percent), Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (7.7 percent) and Alentejo (7.4 percent).
In the North (7 percent), Centre (5.8 percent) and Autonomous Region of the Azores (5.5 percent), the unemployment rates were below this level, INE reports.

Compared to the previous quarter, the unemployment rate increased in three regions, with the largest increase being observed in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (2.1 percentage points), remained unchanged in the Centre region and decreased in three other regions, highlighting the decrease in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (1.8 percentage points).

Compared with the same quarter of 2019, the unemployment rate increased in five regions and decreased in two.

The two largest increases were in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (3.7 percentage points) and the Algarve (3.1 percentage points), while the only two decreases were observed in the North (0.1 percentage points) and the Autonomous Region of the Azores (2.1 percentage points).