The data were gathered in the special edition of the quarterly bulletin Norte Conjuntura of the North Region Coordination and Development Commission (CCDRN), to which Lusa had access, and which evaluate the “two consecutive months” (April and May) in which Portugal lived in a state of emergency due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus, with “several economic activities closed”.

The increase in unemployment, which grew 34 percent nationwide, affected 156,260 people in the North in May, 79,626 of whom in the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP), while exports were 1.1 million Euros below the counterpart period of 2019, adds the document.

Norte Conjuntura reports that the “reduction of 42.3 percent in exports in April” came “after a fall of 16.6 percent in March”.

“In the two months as a whole, the region exported 1.1 billion Euros less than in the same period of 2019, about 11 percent of the value exported by the region in 2019”, they highlight.

CCDR-N also mentions the decrease in the number of hours worked: 33.7 percent less in the clothing industry, 33.9 percent in the manufacture of textiles and 45.3 percent in the leather products industry.

"The application of 'lay-off' measures during the state of emergency has managed to sustain a fall in employment of equivalent amplitude in industries with more consolidated implantation in the region", he maintains.

In April, “the number of unemployed registered in employment centres increased by 18,710 compared to the same month in 2019”, an increase of 14.1 percent.

In May, the number increased to 29,600 more subscribers than in the same month of 2019.

The evolution “was more serious in the industrialised sub-regions”, with Alto Minho growing 52.8 percent in April and 71.3 percent in May.

That month, the increase in unemployment was also more noticeable in the regions of Cávado (32 percent), Ave (31.5 percent) and Tâmega e Sousa (28.2 percent).

“AMP, with a more diversified productive structure, observed a growth of lesser amplitude (20.9 percent), although, in absolute value, it was the one that had the biggest increase of unemployed registered in the employment centres of the region”, they advanced.

Also in absolute terms, in May, Tâmega e Sousa registered 19,352 unemployed, Ave 18,006 and Cávado 14,041, according to a table included in the bulletin.

In the Douro, unemployment increased by 3.2 percent (10,488 registered in employment centres) and in Trás-os-Montes it rose by 12.9 percent (4,054 registered).

Looking at the most exporting districts in the North, the CCDRN finds that unemployment mainly affected Vila Nova de Famalicão (50.8 percent increase in the number of unemployed), Braga (27 percent), Maia (21.3 percent), Vila Nova de Gaia (11.9 percent), Guimarães (30.2 percent), Santa Maria da Feira (30.1 percent) and Porto (14.9 percent).

In Oliveira de Azeméis, the variation was 73.5 percent in May, in Barcelos 45.2 percent, in Viana do Castelo 65.5 percent, in Vila Nova de Cerveira 79 percent, in Felgueiras 61.6 percent and 90.4 percent in São João da Madeira.

The bulletin also highlights that, in the months of mandatory confinement, “tourism activity was practically non-existent”.

In April, "overnight stays decreased 95.3 percent and total income decreased 97 percent compared to April 2019".