LISBON, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese unemployment rate fell further than forecast in August and is expected to register a 9-and-a-half year low in September, the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced on Monday.
The August 8.8 percent figure was a 0.1 percentage point down from the previous month and 0.4 percentage points less than three months earlier.
The fall continues a downward trend which began in January 2013, when unemployment peaked at 17.5 percent.
The INE also released provisional figures for September, with the headline rate expected to drop again, down to 8.6 percent. If this is confirmed, unemployment will be at its lowest rate since April 2008.
The unemployed population was estimated at 442,000 for September, with 4.71 million people in work. This represents a 0.8 percent climb in employment over the past three months.
However, the positive news was slightly tempered by a rise in youth unemployment. In the 15- to 24-year-old bracket, unemployment was estimated at 25.7 percent for September, up 0.9 percent in August and 2.5 percent in July.
