11-08-2021 - In the second quarter of 2021, estimated unemployment rate was 8.4% in the Autonomous Region of Madeira

In the second quarter of 2021

Estimated unemployment rate was 8.4% in the Autonomous Region of Madeira

In 2021, a new Labour Force Survey data series became available, which included, among other changes, the removal of persons engaged in agriculture and fishing activities exclusively for self-consumption from the employed population and the restriction of the active population to those aged 16 to 89. For this reason, regarding this data series and according to the new criteria, the data of the previous quarters were revised, once direct comparison between the estimates from different data series must be avoided. For more information, check the note on Statistics Portugal website.

The Labour Force Survey results, for the second quarter of 2021, indicate that the unemployment rate for the Autonomous Region of Madeira was estimated at 8.4%. This value decreased by 1.2 percentage points (pp) when compared with the previous quarter and increased by 1.3 percentage points (pp) from the same quarter of last year. Compared to the 2nd quarter of 2019, the increase was 0.3 pp.

The estimated unemployed population in the Autonomous Region of Madeira stood at 10.7 thousand persons, having recorded a year-on-year increase of 24.5% and decreased by 13.5%, compared with the previous quarter (1.6 thousand).

The employment rate of the population was estimated at 116.7 thousand persons, representing a year-on-year drop of 3.2% (3.6 thousand) and a quarterly increase of 0.2%( 0.3 thousand).

The activity rate of working-age people (aged 16 to 89), in the second quarter of 2021, was estimated at 58.7%, up 2.5 pp from the same quarter last year and by 0.7 pp from the previous quarter. The activity rate for women was 53.9%, lower than that of men (64.4%) by 10.5 pp.

The inactive population stood at 125.9 thousand persons in the reference quarter, decreasing by 4.8% year-on-year. Compared to the previous quarter, there was an increase of 1.1% (1.4 thousand).

The unemployment rate for Portugal stood at 6.7%, down by 0.4 pp. from the previous quarter and up by 1.0 pp year-on-year.

In three of the 7 NUTS2 regions of the country, the unemployment rate decreased in quarterly terms, with the biggest falls being registered in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (-1.2 pp), Norte with -1.1 pp and Área Metropolitana de Lisboa with -0.2 pp. There were 3 regions where the unemployment rate remained the same as the previous quarter (Centro, Algarve and A.R. Azores) and the Alentejo was the only region where there was a quarterly increase of 0.8 pp. In year-on-year terms, the rate of unemployment increased in all regions of the country, the Alentejo being the region with the greatest rate of change(+4.5 pp). Centro has the lowest unemployment rate (6.2%) and Algarve the highest (10.2%).