They earn less than Europeans and leave their parents’ home later. Most of those who work are on temporary contracts. The unemployment rate is 19%.
More than a quarter of young people in Portugal, between the ages of 15 and 24, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The data, revealed today by Pordata, on the occasion of World Youth Day, reveal that the risk of poverty or exclusion affects 246 thousand young people.
There are 25 thousand who receive social inclusion income and 5 thousand with unemployment benefits. The portrait reveals that in the labor market the youngest earn much less than the national average. The average salary in the 18-24 age group was, in 2022, 948.80 euros gross, 27% less (345.3 €) than the national average. Young people living in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area are the highest earners – € 1035.60 – but they are also the ones with the largest wage gap compared to other workers in the same region: € 527.20 less. Within the European Union, Portugal is the 2nd country where young people have the lowest wages – they receive 36% less than the European average.
In academic training, 30% of young people in the 20-24 age group have a higher education degree and another 60% have completed secondary school. Only 30% of young people are considered active in the labor market. The unemployment rate is 19% in this age group, with 57% of those in employment on temporary contracts. The overwhelming majority – 95% – live with married parents (in 2004 it was 86%), making it the 4th country in the EU with the highest proportion of young people living with their parents.
