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Portuguese gov't concerned about rise in unemployment: PM

Xinhua, January 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Portuguese government is concerned about and keeping a close watch on the rise in unemployment in the country, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said during parliament's fortnightly debate session Friday.

"I want to re-state my concern with the figures that we have seen in the last two months on unemployment statistics. The rate has risen, and obviously that is a concern for the government," he said in response to a question from a member of parliament from his own Social Democratic Party (PSD).

Portugal's unemployment rate rose to 13.9 percent in November last year, after several months of decline, figures released on Jan. 6 by the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics (INE) revealed.

The unemployment figures improved compared to the same period in 2013, with the employed population rising by 0.7 percent compared with the same period the previous year.

However, the INE statistics show that there were 713,700 unemployed people in November 2014, or 174,000 more than in October. The unemployment rate was at 15.4 percent in November 2013.

According to the prime minister, "this does not mean that during a recovery process there may not be this kind of phenomena. I am not sure that this shows the trend is reversing, but we need to keep an eye on this." Endit