Portugal's unemployment rate increased from the previous quarter in the first quarter, data released by the National Institute of Statistics showed Wednesday.
The unemployment rate increased to 14.9 percent in the first quarter from 14 percent in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of 2011, the jobless rate was 12.4 percent.
The number of unemployed persons in the country increased 6.3 percent quarter-over-quarter to around 819,300 during the three-month period. Year-on-year, the number of jobless persons climbed 18.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of persons in employment decreased 1.5 percent sequentially to around 4.66 million in the first quarter. Compared to the same period last year, the number of employed decreased 4.2 percent, data showed.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com