ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE

Over the past decades, services have gained an increasing importance in the Portuguese economy, just as they have in the economies of other EU countries. The service sector currently accounts for 61.4% of the Portuguese economy in terms of employment and 74.5% in gross value added (GVA). Agriculture accounts for 10.9% of employment and 2.7% of GVA. Industry, construction, energy and water account for 27.7% of employment and 22,8% of GVA. The manufacturing industry has undergone significant changes. In a sector that was once highly dependent on traditional industries such as textiles, footwear, ceramics, cork, ship repairs and food and beverages, new industries, including those of automobiles and auto components, electronics and pharmaceutical goods among others, have gained increasing importance. Services have become the most vigorous sector of the economy with distribution, transportation and communications, tourism and financial services showing a strong growth.

Economic Structure - 2010
	Source: Portuguese National Institute of Statistics as published by AICEP
Employment Structure - 2010	Source: Portuguese National Institute of Statistics as published by AICEP

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Intra-Union Trade
The balance of trade account with the European Union, from January to December 2010 revealed a covering rate of 74,46%.

Major trading partners
	Analyzing imports from EU countries, Spain, France , Italy and the Netherlands show up as major partners. Taken overall, they accounted for 67% of the total trade figure for 2010. Source: Portuguese National Institute of Statistics
	Exports went mainly to Spain, Germany, France and the UK, accounting for 74.98.% of total exports to EU countries. Source: Portuguese National Institute of Statistics

Trade with non-EU countries
The cover rate on trade with non EU-countries for the January to December 2010 period is 70,49%.

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Major trading partners
	Non-EU imports, from such sources as OPEC, EFTA, US, Africa, China and Brazil, came to 50,09% overall for non-EU countries. Source: Portuguese National Institute of Statistics
	On the other hand, our main export trading partners outside the EU, were the US, PALOPs (Portuguese-speaking African countries), Asia, Africa and EFTA. Taken as a group, they accounted for 75.4% of the non-EU export total. Source: Portuguese National Institute of Statistics