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5 high-paying, highly-needed jobs in Portugal right now

As a dynamic economy with a lot of facilities for its citizens, Portugal has become a popular destination for expatriates looking for lucrative employment opportunities in the EU.

Here's some good news: in Portugal, employers are facing extreme shortages of both skilled and service workers. These skill shortages are mostly due to talent migration, and fewer skilled candidates. The recent boom in industries such as communications & tourism has also lead to an increased demand for skilled workers in those fields.

Here are 5 lucrative career fields in demand in Portugal right now, and the salaries you can expect.

1. Health care

1. Health care

The growing demand for health professionals in Portugal is driven by the ageing Portuguese population, which creates a greater need for healthcare services.

Although there are several schools offering health-related courses with high numbers of candidates and graduates per year, supply is still lower than demand.

Nevertheless, having a job in the healthcare field can be highly lucrative. According to PayScale, you can earn up to €25k per month on an average as an internal medical physician, and an average of €17k per month as a registered nurse!

2. Tourism

2. Tourism

Portugal was honoured as the world's top tourist destination at the 2019 World Travel Awards for the third time in a row.

Unsurprisingly, the tourism sector in Portugal contributes to 8.2% of the total GDP & employs 10% of the total labour force.

Hospitality and tourism are therefore an important sector for the national economy, providing employment to a great share of the Portuguese population.

Getting into the hospitality sector can be quite lucrative for ex-pats as well.

The average monthly pay as a waiter in Portugal is €8,400, while you can earn a whopping €12,600 as a bartender. Now that's some great news - because Portugal has a shortage of both waiters and bartenders. Ahem!

3. Agriculture

3. Agriculture

You will find no dearth of job opportunities in Portugal in the agricultural sector - from engineers to farmers, to fisheries.

Farmers are usually the one force field that sustains a nation, and Portugal, like its neighbours, is facing a shortage of it. As a matter of fact, the employment rate in agriculture dropped from 11.5% in 2009 to 5.8% in 2019.

Two factors may be responsible for the alarmingly decreasing numbers. One, the extreme climate condition most often leads to heavy losses in crops, so agriculture is perhaps seen an unprofitable business among the youth. Moreover, new technologies to combat the heavy losses are in place - for example, the VISCA & the Geosiestema - but the region lacks a skilled workforce for operating this technology.

Two, the youth are inclined towards Portugal's growing international market, which is quite evident by the sustained rate of service employment & the booming tourism sector.

Unsurprisingly half of Portugal's agriculture population is aged 65 and above, leading to increased demand in both skilled labours & engineers in the agricultural sector.

4. Engineers & Skilled Technicians

4. Engineers & Skilled Technicians

While engineers & skilled technicians are in demand throughout the EU, Portugal is experiencing increasing demand, mainly due to a mismatch between the skilled workers available, and the employment opportunities.

A major chunk of the workforce also comprises of workers on the brink of retirement - leading to a large number of vacancies in a rapidly growing global market. In fact, as an engineer, you can find a job in any branch of your choosing in Portugal, thanks to the Portugal's increasingly global tech industry.

5. Teacher

5. Teacher

There is also a growing demand for teachers in both STEM & non-STEM fields in Portugal, according to Portugal's National Association of Teachers.

This demand is brought about by the increasing rate of teachers retiring (more teachers retired in the first 6 months of 2019 than the whole year of 2018), i.e. the ageing teacher population.

Apart from good pay, a great incentive to work as a teacher in Portugal is the retirement pension - teachers in Portugal receive 95% of working-wage when they retire.

Thanks to Portugal's steadily decreasing unemployment rate and the high level of English skills among locals, job-seeking could be a highly competitive activity. Therefore, if you are armed with a specialization certificate in the above fields, you can hardly go wrong!

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