Portugal's unemployment rate increased markedly in the first quarter, data released by Statistics Portugal showed Thursday.
The unemployment rate advanced to 17.7 percent from 14.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012. In the fourth quarter of last year, the jobless rate was 16.9 percent.
The unemployment rate among youth, aged between 15 and 24, was 42.1 percent in the first three months of this year, higher than last year's 36.2 percent and fourth quarter's figure of 40 percent.
The total number of unemployed persons in the country climbed 16.2 percent annually to around in 952,200 in the three months to March. Quarter-over-quarter, unemployment rose by 3.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of persons in employment decreased 4.9 percent from the prior year to 4.43 million at the end of the first quarter. Sequentially, their number dropped by 2.2 percent.
Data released by the Greek statistical office today showed that youth unemployment in the crisis-stricken euro area economy recorded a sharp increase in February. The unemployment rate among young Greeks jumped to 64.2 percent from 54.1 percent in February last year.
Greece's overall unemployment rate climbed to a new record high of 27 percent in February from 21.9 percent a year earlier.
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