Portugal unemployment rate falls in December, lowest since at least 2004

LISBON: Portugal's monthly unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in December from a revised reading of 8.1 the previous month, which was the lowest since 2004, provisional data from the National Statistics Institute showed on Tuesday.

The jobless rate compares to 10.2 percent in December 2017.

The INE revised its original estimate for November 2017 from 8.2 percent and said the rate was the lowest since November 2004.

The youth unemployment rate of those aged 15 to 24 fell to 22.1 percent in December from 22.8 percent in November and from 26.2 percent a year earlier.

The total number of unemployed fell to 401,500 people last month from 417,200 in November, while the employed workforce stood at nearly 4.78 million.