In about 10 years, the number of foreign workers in the country increased from approximately 55,600 to 495,200
The hiring of foreign labor has increased in recent years in Portugal and has become a necessity due to the shortage of workers in certain areas. According to the OM (Migration Observatory), without immigrants, some economic sectors and activities would not survive or “would collapse”.
According to the December 2023 report (full – 29 MB), half of the foreign employees are “at the base of the Portuguese labor market”. They act, in general, “in the least attractive jobs”. Three groups stand out:
- unskilled workers;
- plant and machine operators or assembly workers;
- skilled workers in industry, construction and craftsmen.
In about 10 years, the number of workers of other nationalities in the country increased from approximately 55,600 (2014) to 495,200 (2023) – which represents 2.1% and 13.4% of the total number of employees with contracts, respectively. The data is from a document from the Bank of Portugal (full – PDF – 2 MB) of June this year.
As a result, the percentage of companies in Portugal with foreign employees has also increased over the years. In 2014, it was 7.9%. In 2023, it will be 22.2%.
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PROFILE
According to the observatory, the insertion of foreign workers into the Portuguese labor market “does not necessarily reflect professional qualifications and experience”.
According to the Bank of Portugal, in 2023, most people worked in the agriculture/fishing, administrative activities, accommodation/food and construction sectors. Brazilians are the majority in all sectors except the first.
They were also predominantly in companies based on the coast, particularly in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, as well as in Alentejo and Algarve.
YOUNG PEOPLE
Study of Iscte (Lisbon University Institute) published in July this year indicates that young immigrants (aged 16 to 29) registered in the IEFP (Institute of Employment and Professional Training) return to the job market more quickly than the Portuguese. Here is the full (PDF – 2 MB).
The IEFP is a Portuguese government agency responsible for combating unemployment through measures such as providing vocational training. Registration with the organization is necessary to, for example, receive unemployment benefits paid by the State.
“These young immigrants have, on average, a good educational background, have little access to unemployment benefits, are absorbed more quickly by the market and accept less desirable jobs”, he said Paulo Marques, one of the authors of the study.
According to the research, in 2023 there was a high percentage of young people from Portuguese-speaking countries (64.9%), especially Brazilians.
The majority of these immigrants completed secondary education (63.5%) and only 21.7% received unemployment benefits in 2023.
“Immigrants are mostly filling labor needs in unskilled sectors”, said Marques, highlighting that “these sectors are able to sustain themselves because they resort to” to foreign workers.
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