How does the labor system work in Portugal?

Portugal's labor system has been recently adapted to meet the needs of the modern industry. Nowadays, investors can find a more flexible workforce in Portugal.

In recent years, Portuguese employment law has undergone many changes and adjustments. Thus, after more than 30 years of legislative reforms, the Portuguese labour system is now more flexible, particularly in terms of organizing working time.

In terms of regulations, the main law is the Labour Code, which was revised in 2009 (Law No. 7/2009 of February 12), 2011 (Law N. 53/2011 of October 13), 2012 (Law No. 23/2012 of June 25) and 2013 (Law No. 69/2013 of August 30), mainly further to the requirements that were undertaken by the Portuguese government within the context of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MOU) signed in May 2011 with representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the EU and the European Central Bank.

There are also regulations that, along with the aforementioned law, govern work activities. Among these, it is important to highlight the collective labour regulations, the most common form being the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), an agreement between labour unions and employer associations, which regulates the activities of the sectors in question.