The Regional Director for Employment and Vocational Training reiterated in Angra do Heroísmo the “very positive” data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) on employment in the second quarter of this year. In this regard, she noted that they also result from the employment measures promoted by the Regional Government, which have been contributing to the increase of employed Azoreans and the decrease of the unemployed.
 
“The recently released statistical data are very positive as far as they reveal that are currently 114,979 employed Azoreans, which corresponds to the highest employment figure ever recorded since the implementation of statistics series in 1985," stated Paula Andrade.
 
Considering INE data, there are 2,823 more employed Azoreans than a year ago and 7,048 more employed Azoreans than those registered at the beginning of this legislative term, which began in late 2016," stated the government official.
 
The Regional Director spoke on the sidelines of an awareness-raising session on employment measures aimed at promoting the employability of unemployed people facing difficulties in entering the labour market. On the occasion, she stressed that “although there has been a very significant growth of employment, the working population also grew significantly, representing 125,289 Azoreans in the second quarter of this year."
 
"This is also the highest figure ever recorded in the current Employment Survey series," Paula Andrade stressed, adding that it is the "evidence of such an extraordinary increase of the working population in just three months, i.e., 3,210 more Azoreans."
 
According to the Regional Director for Employment and Vocational Training, the already known data “confirm that the employment measures implemented by the Regional Government are on the right track, a fact that is also evidenced by the decline in the unemployment rate, which fell to 8.2%, the lowest figure since 2011.”