The social security website stated that the numbers in receipt of benefits in April dropped by 7,668 people to reach 242,169, with 119,405 women and 122,764 men, 39 percent of the most recent total of unemployed persons in Portugal as calculated by the National Institute of Statistics in its provisional estimate for March.
The National Institute of Statistics found that there were a total of 615,200 unemployed people with an unemployment rate of 12.1 percent in March, down 0.1 percent on February.
The social security recipients may be receiving unemployment subsidy, initial unemployment social subsidy, subsequent or extended unemployment social subsidy with the average level of subsidy paid out in March standing at €450.47 against the €455.34 in effect twelve months earlier.