“It is not worth looking at unemployment with euphoria” – TVI24

The economy minister, António Pires de Lima, considered this Wednesday that the opposition, when disagrees with the reduction in unemployment numbers, is saying “who does not believe in the Portuguese” and the ability of the private sector.

“It is not worth looking at these data with euphoria, because it is not justified, but surely they have a 11.9% unemployment rate is much better than what we had a year ago, nearly 14%, “said the minister on the sidelines of a visit to tourist enterprises in Lisbon.

The minister added that the decline in the unemployment rate to 11.9 % in the second quarter is “much better” than the figures in the first quarter two years ago, “when the unemployment rate peaked at 18% in Portugal.”

“The Portuguese economy has generated 230,000 net jobs over the last 30 months,” he pointed Pires de Lima, defending the merits “of the companies is, is the private sector, the State do what you can to make life easier for companies. “

The minister assured never have put the merits of job creation” in the political, let alone the Ministry of Economy, “and classified the decline in unemployment as a “sign of confidence and hope for all those who continue to look for an opportunity to work” in the country.

António Pires de Lima stressed looking “with some sadness for the reactions of the political opposition as being, it sometimes seems, very troubled and concerned about the development of good economic indicators in Portugal” .

The criticism from the opposition, countered serve to “disqualify” the ability of private companies to invest and create jobs, accused.

“The opposition is doing what, really, is to say every day that does not believe in Portuguese, who does not believe in Portugal, who does not believe in the ability of the private sector, because is fundamentally the merits of the private sector that should this recovery that we know, “he stressed.

Faced on the unemployed who are no longer part of statistics, the economy minister said that “the numbers were always recorded in the same manner now and 2011, when the government was another color.”

“I remember that unemployment rose from 7% to 12.7% between 2006 and 2011,” shot Pires de Lima, arguing that as a result of the financial adjustment of the country, “the Portuguese gave an admirable response. “

The unemployment rate stood at 11.9% from April to June, down 1.8 percentage points on the previous quarter and 2, 0 percentage points below the same quarter of 2014, according to estimates released today by the National Statistics Institute (INE).