Portugal's unemployment rate remained stable in August at 14 percent, the same figure as the previous month, down from 16.1 percent registered last year, according to figures released by the Eurostat on Tuesday.

Year on year, Portugal registered the second highest drop in unemployment in the eurozone, after Hungary, which saw its unemployment rate drop from 10.2 percent to 7.8 percent in the last year.

Portugal has the fifth highest unemployment rate in the eurozone and youth unemployment rose slightly in August compared to the previous month, from 35.5 percent in July to 35.6 percent in August, the third highest youth unemployment rate in the eurozone.

That makes it no surprise that, according to a study published on Monday, 46 percent of Portugal's university students expect to be working in a foreign country by 2020.

Thousands of young people have fled the country since 2011, when the country signed the 78-billion-euro bailout (about 100 billion U.S. dollars) program with its international creditors, a phenomenon analysts describe as a "brain drain."

They leave either because they cannot find work in their home country or because they are subject to miserable salaries and high taxes.

Portugal also has the lowest minimum national wage in the eurozone, which will be raised by the government by 4 percent to 505 euros next month. That figure is still below their neighbor's minimum monthly wage in Spain, currently at 645 euros.

There is proof that the country is crawling out of the recession, with the Portuguese economy growing for the second quarter, however unemployment still remains painfully high. (1 euro = 1.27 U.S. dollars) Endit

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)