“They [numbers] are unfortunately not a surprise, we already knew that we were going to be faced with unemployment and we have said that the country should prepare for a second wave, and the second wave is a wave of health, economic crisis and social crisis”, said Catarina Martins.

In the opinion of Catarina Martins, support for the economy should be stronger in protecting employment and wages.
“We also believe that the country must have stronger mechanisms to support those who lost their jobs and those who lost their income”, she stressed.

The number of unemployed registered in employment centres increased 37 percent in July in year-on-year terms and 0.2 percent compared to June, according to data released by the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP).

According to the IEFP, at the end of July, 407,302 unemployed were registered in the employment services of the continent and autonomous regions, representing 74.5 percent of a total of 546,846 job applications.