The unemployment rate in Portugal decreased in the third quarter ended September to 10.5% from 11.9% last year according to figures from Statistics Portugal.

The number of unemployed people decreased to 549,500 in the September quarter from 618,800 a year ago.

At the same time, the employed population saw an increase of 1.9% compared to the previous year. The unemployment rate of men (10.3%) was lower than that of women (10.8%). The unemployment rate of young people (aged 15 to 24) was estimated at 26.1% and that of young adults (aged 25 to 34) at 11.5%.

However, from the previous quarter, the rate of young people not in employment, education or training increased by 0.6 percentage points (11.7 thousand), having this increase been larger for men (0.9 percentage points; 9.1 thousand) than for women (0.3 percentage points; 2.6 thousand).

Due to the importance of young people not in employment, education or training, the main characteristics of this group are further detailed below.

In the 3rd quarter of 2016, from the total of 2,273.7 thousand young people aged 15 to 34, 13.3% (301.7 thousand) were not in employment, education or training.

In the quarter under analysis, this group was composed, mainly, of women (52.6%; 158.6 thousand), people aged 25 to 34 (58.8%; 177.3 thousand), having completed, at most, the first or second stages of basic education (44.1%; 133.1 thousand) and unemployed (54.8%; 165.3 thousand).