The National Statistics Institute (INE) was expected publish lower Employment Statistics for the first quarter, after unemployment totalled 10.5 percent in the last quarter of 2016.
Last Friday, the INE lowered its projection for unemployment in February by 0.1 percentage points to 9.9 percent, the lowest level since February 2009, and estimates another decrease in March to 9.8 percent.
Last year, the unemployment rate calculated by INE in the first quarter was 12.4 percent (down from 13.7 percent a year earlier).
According to Rui Bernardes Serra, of Montepio Geral, the unemployment rate in the first quarter of this year is expected to have fallen to 10.2 percent, and will total 9.8 percent for the year.