Portugal stands out among the European Union (EU) countries where employment grew the most between the second and third quarters of 2025, joining a group of five member states with significant increases, behind only Estonia and Croatia.

During the same period, the EU employment rate for people aged 20 to 64 remained stable at 76.2%.


According to ECO, employment growth in Portugal was 0.6 percentage points, equalling Romania and falling behind only Malta (1.2 percentage points) and Estonia (0.8 percentage points). Employment growth was observed in 15 member states, while others, such as Belgium, recorded significant declines. Across the EU as a whole, more than three million unemployed people found work between July and September 2025, representing 23% of the total unemployed in the previous quarter.

According to the study, 2.6 million workers moved from employment to unemployment and 4.7 million became inactive during the same period. Among the inactive, 4.2 million found new jobs, while 3.9 million became unemployed. These data reflect a complex dynamic in the European labour market, with Portugal maintaining a positive performance compared to the EU average.