The Regional Director for Employment and Vocational Training highlighted the relevance of training and qualifying the Azoreans for employability with a view to the improvement of professional skills, productivity and competitiveness of Azorean economy. 

"The measures and training initiatives promoted by the Regional Government have contributed to the improvement of qualifications and acquisition of skills, thus contributing to the maintenance of jobs and the integration of an ever growing number of Azoreans into the labour market, which tends to be very demanding and competitive," said Paula Andrade.

The Regional Director spoke Wednesday during the delivery of 50 certificates to trainees who completed the HACCP course - Hazard Analysis and Critical Point Control and the Rescue Techniques course at a ceremony that took place at the "Casa do Povo" of Maia (community centre), municipality of Ribeira Grande. 

On the occasion, Paula Andrade mentioned that, so far, the Government has opened four calls for applications, with a global allocation of three million and 650 thousand Euros, expecting that more than 12 thousand employed and unemployed Azoreans will acquire new skills.

“Pursuing a strategy of providing companies with more and better qualified human resources to consolidate their sustainability and competitiveness, the Regional Government will continue to invest in the qualifications of the Azoreans,” assured Paula Andrade, who considered that this Government's priority has yielded results. 

With regard to the latest data from the Employment Survey conducted by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the Regional Director said “the reduction in the unemployment rate in the Azores, compared to the same period, was the second highest in the country and the third highest in terms of annual rate." 

According to INE, while the country registered a slowdown in the decrease of the unemployment rate in the annual average, the Azores, in turn, registered a considerable reduction in the unemployment rate in 2019, i.e., less 0.7 percentage points. 

“If we take into account the year-on-year comparison, that is, the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the same quarter of 2018, the unemployment rate in the Azores declines by 0.9 percentage points, which represents the third ~highest decrease in the country,” noted Paula Andrade. 

"The Regional Government has been doing its job, but the Azoreans are the main players and those responsible for the achievement of these positive results," assured the Regional Director.