The number of jobseekers registered at IEFP training and employment centres has plunged by over 20 percent in the space of just one year.
Latest data published this week revealed that active jobseekers have fallen to 330,587 between July 2017 and July 2018, representing a fall of 20.6 percent.
The current number of people looking for work in Portugal is now at its lowest in 16 years, having been reduced by more than 85,000 people in the past year.
The downward trend has been particularly satisfying in terms of youth employment and first-time job seekers, with their number experiencing a drastic reduction of 30 percent.
Similarly, the number of people who have been out of work for more than a year has also dropped substantially, and in July this year, was down 24.2 percent on 2017 figures.
The Portuguese Government quickly stepped up to accept the laurels for this remarkable improvement in the labour market.
“The drop in the number of jobseekers is due to sustained evolution and is the result of a political strategy”, Labour Secretary Miguel Cabrita said in a statement.
“Since the start of the current legislative mandate, more than 300,000 jobs have been created”, explained Miguel Cabrita, adding however “that while there are still people without jobs, we will continue to reinforce our priority to create employment, particularly among groups who are most exposed by the lack of job security.”
Positive job figures have been released on a monthly basis for much of 2018. Back in June, Portugal’s unemployment rate slipped to below eight percent for the first time in a decade, with projections that more people will find employment right through until the end of the year.
Job creation continues to show promise, with companies currently increasing their workforce by an average of three percent.
Additional data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) also indicates that not only are workers becoming increasingly in demand, but that wages are also at an all-time high.
The INE revealed that by the end of last year, the number of workers earning 3,000 euros after deductions had climbed to its highest figure on record, with 37,500 workers falling in this category.
But it is not only high-income earners who are benefitting from being handed greater monetary rewards from their bosses. The number of workers cashing pay cheques of below 600 euros a month is also at a new low, while the average take-home pay in Portugal has risen above inflation to 876 euros a month.
There was also a substantial increase (18.4 percent) of workers taking home between 1,800 and 2,500 euros a month.
There have also been repeated calls from the leftist partners of the minority Socialist government to reduce the working week.
With discussions for the 2019 state budget around the corner, junior members of the government’s leftist alliance remain insistent that the Socialists cut the working week in the private sector to seven hours a day or 35 hours a week.
According to calculations by the Communist Party, reducing the working week to 35 hours would effectively wipe out unemployment, with 440,000 jobs expected to be created by such a move.