Unemployment rate in the Autonomous Region of Madeira estimated at 6.6% in the 4^th quarter and 7.9% in 2021

The results of the Labour Force Survey, for the 4^th quarter of 2021, indicate that the unemployment rate in the Autonomous Region of Madeira was estimated at 6.6%. This indicator decreased by 0.7 percentage points (pp) compared to the previous quarter and by 4.7 pp from the same quarter last year.  Compared to the 4^th quarter of 2019 (pre-pandemic COVID-19 period), the decrease was 0.8 pp. In the time series that starts in 2011, only the 1st quarter of 2020 had a lower value (5.9%).

The unemployment rate for 2021 (average) in the Autonomous Region of Madeira was 7.9%, down by 0.5 pp from 2020, the second lowest of the time series (7.4% in 2019).

The estimated number of unemployed persons in the Autonomous Region of Madeira stood at 8.5 thousand, dropping by 42.6% from the same quarter of last year (6.3 thousand) and by 10.4%, compared to the previous quarter (1.0 thousand). For this indicator, the average for 2021 was 10.2 thousand persons.

The employment rate of the population was estimated at 120.4 thousand persons, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.2% (3.7 thousand) and a quarterly decrease of 0.4% (0.5 thousand). The annual average employment rate was 118.6 thousand, which corresponds to an average annual increase of 1.1% (+1.3 thousand employed persons compared to 2020).

The activity rate of working-age people (aged 16 to 89), in the 4^th quarter of 2021, was estimated at 59.3%,  1.3 percentage points higher than in the same quarter of last year and 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous quarter. The activity rate for women was 55.1%, 9.1 pp lower than that of men (64.2%).

The inactive population stood at 124.5 thousand persons in the reference quarter, increased by 1.4% from the same quarter of last year and 1.3% from the previous quarter.

In Portugal, the unemployment rate was 6.3%, in the quarter under review, 0.2 pp higher than in the previous quarter and 1.0 pp lower than the same quarter last year. The annual average rate in 2021 was 6.6%, which represents a drop of 0.4 pp compared to 2020.

In the reference quarter, the Autonomous Region of the Azores (8.2%), the Algarve (6.9%) and Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (6.7%) had the highest unemployment rates, while the Centre and Alentejo (both 5.5%) had the lowest value. Only in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (-0.7 pp) and in the Alentejo (-0.3 pp) did the unemployment rate had a quarterly decline. Área Metropolitana de Lisboa maintained the same value as in the previous quarter and the Autonomous Region of the Azores was the region that recorded the largest quarterly increase (+1.3 pp), followed by the Algarve (+1.1 pp). Year-on-year, the unemployment rate decreased in all regions of the country, except the Autonomous Region of the Azores, which recorded an increase of 2.7 pp, with the Autonomous Region of Madeira showing the greatest change (-4.6 pp).

On an annual basis, the unemployment rate in 2021 increased in two regions, the Autonomous Region of the Azores (+1.0 pp to 7.2% ) and Alentejo (0.6 pp to 6.6%). In the remaining regions, the rate decreased compared to 2020, with the sharpest decrease happening in Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (-0.9 pp to 6.8%). The Algarve was the region with the highest rate in 2021 (8.2%) and the Centre had the lowest rate (5.8%).

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