LISBON, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The average unemployment rate in Portugal during 2017 was 8.9 percent, the lowest rate since 2008, the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced on Wednesday.
The yearly reading is a 2.2 percentage point improvement on 2016 and 7.3 percentage points lower than the peak year of 2013.
The figure is also below government expectations. While negotiating the state budget for 2018, the Portuguese government forecast a 2017 unemployment reading of 9.2 percent.
Portugal returns to single-digit score for the first time since 2009. At the last reading, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Italy and Croatia were the European Union countries with double-digit rates.
There was also good news for Portugal in terms of youth unemployment. The unemployment rate for job seekers aged between 15 and 24 remains high, at 23.9 percent, but is 4.1 percentage points lower than in 2016.
Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno said Wednesday: "Great progress has been made in the Portuguese job market and this is reflected in salaries, which have also grown at every level."
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