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Portugal's 17.7% unemployment rate at euro-era record
Aggregated Source: Shanghai Daily: Business


PORTUGAL'S jobless rate rose to a euro-era record of 17.7 percent in the three months through March as the country's economy contracts for a third year.

The unemployment rate increased from 16.9 percent in the fourth quarter and 14.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012, the Lisbon-based National Statistics Institute said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The number of unemployed workers from industries including manufacturing, construction and energy rose 3.6 percent in the first quarter, while the increase in services was 4.1 percent.

Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho is battling a deepening recession as he cuts spending and raises taxes to meet the terms of a 78 billion-euro (US$103 billion) aid plan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Coelho proposed spending cuts on May 3 that include reducing the number of state workers as the government tries to meet budget deficit targets.

The government unveiled less ambitious targets on March 15 for narrowing its deficit as it predicted the economy will shrink twice as much as previously estimated this year.

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Copyright Shanghai Daily: Business