Unemployment fell to 5.6% in December 2025, 0.1 percentage points lower than in November and the lowest rate since February 2002, when it reached that value, according to the provisional estimate released today by the INE (National Institute of Statistics).
In the “Monthly Estimates of Employment and Unemployment” published today, the INE maintained the provisional estimate of 5.7%, released on January 7th, for the unemployment rate in November of last year.
In December 2025, the unemployment rate for women (6.1%) exceeded that of men (5.1%) by 1.0 percentage points, with the adult unemployment rate standing at 4.7%, the same value as in November 2025 and the lowest since April 2002 (4.4%).
The youth unemployment rate fell by 0.5 percentage points, reaching 18.4%.