Portugal: the manufacturing data behind a 2026 plant decision

The lowest value added per person employed of the ten Western countries, below Czechia, and the fastest hourly labour-cost rise in the group. Food, textiles and fabricated metal. The Eurostat figures, with dataset codes.

Value added and employment

Eurostat nama_10_a10 (B1G, CP_MEUR, NACE C and TOTAL) and nama_10_a10_e (EMP_DC, THS_PER, NACE C), 2024–2025; productivity index from tesem160 (NLPR_HW, PC_EU27_2020_MPPS_CP), whole economy, 2024–2025. Value added per person employed = mfg GVA ÷ mfg employment, nominal current prices, not adjusted for price levels. Extracted 22 September 2026.

EUR 47.1k of value added per person employed is 53% of the EU-27 figure and the lowest of the ten Western countries — below Czechia (EUR 49.8k), closer to Poland (EUR 39.5k) than to Spain (EUR 78.4k). The whole-economy productivity index fell from 68.2 to 66.7 against EU-27 = 100, below Slovenia (86.2), Slovakia (81.1) and Czechia (79.6). Employment grew 0.6%. The 69,138 registered manufacturing enterprises (sbs_ovw_act, 2023) are a count inflated by micro-firms.

Where the value added sits

Eurostat nama_10_a64 (B1G, CP_MEUR), 2023, extracted 22 September 2026. Shares are calculated against nama_10_a64's own NACE C total for Portugal in 2023, EUR 32,661m, which differs marginally from the nama_10_a10 vintage used above.

Those three are 41.4% of Portuguese manufacturing value added, with wood, paper and printing (EUR 3,161m) and non-metallic minerals (EUR 2,373m) behind them. This is the only profile in the Western group that resembles the Central and Eastern European pattern rather than the machinery-and-vehicles pattern of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Operationally: short runs, frequent changeovers, labour-dense lines, and losses in set-up, minor stops and rework rather than large breakdowns.

What an hour and a kilowatt-hour cost

Labour cost: Eurostat lc_lci_lev (unit EUR, lcstruct D1_D4_MD5, NACE C), 2023–2025. Electricity: nrg_pc_205 (siec E7000, nrg_cons MWH2000-19999 = band ID, 2,000–19,999 MWh/year, tax I_TAX, EUR/kWh), 2025-S1 and 2025-S2. Extracted 22 September 2026.

Portugal has both the lowest hourly manufacturing labour cost of the ten — EUR 16.5, 47% of the EU-27 figure — and the fastest increase, +13.0% against +9.0% for the EU. That is still nothing like Poland's +29.5% or Bulgaria's +27.5% over the same two years, so this is not a wage shock; it is a steady narrowing of the one advantage Portuguese plants have. Electricity at EUR 0.1482/kWh is below the EU-27 average but above Spain's EUR 0.1431, so the Iberian power advantage is smaller on the Portuguese side of the border than it is usually assumed to be.

Hiring and labour shortage

Job vacancy rate: Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2 (NACE C, sizeclas TOTAL, unit AVG_A), 2024–2025, and jvs_q_nace2 (indicator JVR, NACE C, NSA), 2025-Q3 and 2025-Q4. Labour as a factor limiting production: ei_bsin_q_r2 (indic BS-FLP3-PC, s_adj NSA), 2026-Q2 and 2026-Q3 — 2026 quarters, not on the same time base as the annual rate. Extracted 22 September 2026.

Portugal is one of only two countries in the group whose annual manufacturing vacancy rate rose rather than fell between 2024 and 2025, from 1.0% to 1.1% — still below the EU-27's 1.5%. The share naming labour as a factor limiting production rose from 11.1% to 11.9% across two 2026 quarters, against an EU-27 rise from 15.8% to 18.0%. Scarcity is rising slowly from a low base, not binding as it is in the Netherlands.

AI and ICT adoption

9.9% of Portuguese manufacturers with 10 or more employees used at least one AI technology in 2025, the lowest of the ten Western countries and well below the EU-27 manufacturing average of 17.3% (isoc_eb_ain2, E_AI_TANY, PC_ENT, GE10, NACE C). The 2024 figure was 6.8%; all sectors was 11.5% against an EU-27 20.0% (isoc_eb_ai). Eurostat broadened the AI question battery for the 2025 wave, so part of the movement is methodological — and Portugal's increase is still the smallest in the group. Portugal sits between Hungary (7.8%) and Croatia (12.9%), not next to Spain (17.1%). The Digital Intensity Index was not retrieved in this pass.

What this means for a plant here

• Two numbers define the Portuguese case. EUR 47.1k of value added per person employed, the lowest in the Western set and below Czechia, and +13.0% on the hourly labour cost since 2023, the fastest rise in the group. The distance between what an hour costs and what an hour produces is narrowing from the wrong end.
• A labour-recovery business case will not clear the hurdle. At EUR 16.5 an hour, twelve operators idle for one eight-hour shift is about EUR 1,580 of direct labour — a third of the German figure. The Portuguese case has to be built on throughput and on orders that can be accepted, not on wages avoided.
• Build for short runs. Food, textiles and fabricated metal are 41.4% of value added. Changeover time, minor stops and rework are where the hours go in those lines, and none of the three shows up in a monthly output report.
• Start with capture, not with models. 9.9% AI adoption is a Central European figure, and the entry point that fits it is the one that fits Poland and Romania: get the machine and the reason it stopped into a record that survives the shift.
• Check the energy assumption. EUR 0.1482/kWh is below the EU average but above Spain's, so a group model that prices Iberian power as one number flatters Portuguese sites by about EUR 0.005/kWh.
• Where the next question is how to fund it, Portuguese incentive routes are covered separately at factoryoptimizationai.com/we/.

• Western European manufacturing in 2026: the data
• Germany: the manufacturing data
• Italy: the manufacturing data
• Spain: the manufacturing data
• Netherlands: the manufacturing data

Questions

Why is Portuguese manufacturing productivity the lowest in Western Europe?

The Eurostat figures show the level, not the cause. Value added per person employed was EUR 47.1k in 2025 against EUR 89.3k for the EU-27, calculated from nama_10_a10 and nama_10_a10_e. The sub-sector mix is part of it: food, textiles and fabricated metal are 41.4% of value added, all lower-value activities than the machinery and pharma that dominate Denmark or Germany.

How fast is Portuguese labour cost rising?

Hourly manufacturing labour cost went from EUR 14.6 in 2023 to EUR 16.5 in 2025, a rise of 13.0%, the fastest of the ten Western countries and above the EU-27's 9.0% (lc_lci_lev, lcstruct D1_D4_MD5, NACE C). For scale, Poland rose 29.5% and Bulgaria 27.5% over the same two years, so this is a steady narrowing rather than a shock.

Is Portuguese electricity cheaper than Spanish?

No. Band ID, 2,000 to 19,999 MWh a year, excluding recoverable taxes, was EUR 0.1482 per kWh in Portugal and EUR 0.1431 in Spain in 2025-S2 (nrg_pc_205). Both are below the EU-27 average of EUR 0.1920, but Portugal pays about EUR 0.005 more per kWh than Spain.

How many Portuguese manufacturers use AI?

9.9% of those with 10 or more employees in 2025, the lowest of the ten Western countries and below the EU-27 manufacturing average of 17.3% (isoc_eb_ain2, E_AI_TANY). It places Portugal between Hungary at 7.8% and Croatia at 12.9%. Eurostat widened the question set for the 2025 wave, so the 6.8% figure for 2024 is not a comparable starting point.

Which is Portugal's largest manufacturing sub-sector?

Food, beverages and tobacco, EUR 5,505m of gross value added in 2023, 16.9% of Portuguese manufacturing (nama_10_a64). Textiles, apparel and leather is second at EUR 4,423m and fabricated metal third at EUR 3,580m.

Sources

1. Eurostat nama_10_a10 — gross value added, NACE C and total (2024–2025)
2. Eurostat nama_10_a10_e — employment, domestic concept, NACE C (2024–2025)
3. Eurostat nama_10_a64 — value added by manufacturing sub-sector (2023)
4. Eurostat sbs_ovw_act — number of enterprises, NACE C (2023)
5. Eurostat lc_lci_lev — hourly labour cost, NACE C (2023–2025)
6. Eurostat nrg_pc_205 — electricity prices, non-household consumers (2025-S1, 2025-S2)
7. Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2 — annual job vacancy rate, NACE C (2024–2025)
8. Eurostat jvs_q_nace2 — quarterly job vacancy rate, NACE C (2025-Q3, 2025-Q4)
9. Eurostat ei_bsin_q_r2 — factors limiting production, labour (2026-Q2, 2026-Q3)
10. Eurostat isoc_eb_ai — enterprises using AI, all sectors (2024–2025)
11. Eurostat isoc_eb_ain2 — enterprises using AI, NACE C (2024–2025)
12. Eurostat tesem160 — labour productivity per hour worked, PPS, EU-27 = 100 (2024–2025)

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