Maria João Carreiro highlights "historic results in employment" and ensures investment in Azorean young people and families - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Juventude, Habitação e Emprego

The Investment Plan for 2025 in Youth, Housing and Employment includes a strong component of incentives to attract and maintain young talents in the Azores and the well-being of families, through support for labour stability, better salaries for workers and access to housing at prices compatible with Azorean households' budgets.  

It is 113.5 million Euros of "direct public investment’ in people, including 3.5 million Euros to implement Youth measures; 36.2 million Euros to invest in Housing - the largest investment in the last decade and 23% more than in the 2024 Plan; and 73.5 million Euros to invest in the Vocational Training and Employment of Azoreans.

According to Maria João Carreiro, who spoke today in Horta, the Regional Government will continue to promote a "policy of results" that has led to an increase in the employed population, now the highest ever in the Azores; a drop in unemployment, the lowest for 16 years; and a reduction in the number of Azoreans enrolled in occupational programmes, the lowest for 12 years. 

"This is an investment plan geared towards young people, which promotes the workers' income and the well-being of families and companies," she stated at the Azorean Parliament.

The Government's proposals include support for stable contracts and adequate pay for young people's training. The latter "contrasts in every respect with the precarious solutions that the Region had to offer," until November 2020, to young wishing to work in the Azores.

The Regional Government will continue to invest in attracting and maintaining young talents in the Azores through measures such as the "+ Youth" package. This unprecedented initiative in the Region provides for the awarding of prizes for signing employment contracts and incentives to increase young people's salaries, in addition to the payment of airfares for young people travelling from their island of residence.

Since late 2021, 6,600 more young people have been employed in the Azores, which has led to a reduction in youth unemployment. More than 7,500 workers have been placed in job vacancies and are contributing with their skills to the productivity of Azorean companies.

Maria João Carreiro considers young people's difficulties in accessing housing to be "real," pointing out that the situation in the Azores has been exacerbated by the "lack of planning or inability of previous [socialist] governments to anticipate needs and strengthen the public housing supply."  

Against this backdrop, "this Regional Government is working to make available not only the housing that previous governments promised and never did but also the housing that we have committed to, including that under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP)."

In 2025, the PSD/CDS/PPM coalition will make further progress towards improving the regional housing support programmes to respond to economic and structural challenges.

In addition to the extension of the eligibility criteria and the increase in support for the self-build scheme and the "Renovate Home, Inhabited Home" programme, which took place this year and will continue, the Government is proposing for 2025 the lease with purchase option scheme. This will allow housing built under the RRP and regional resources to be allocated to young people and middle-class families, without forgetting households facing housing shortage.

Leasing contracts between the Region and homeowners will be increased by 50% to bring them closer to market prices and increase subletting. The support for families to rent their own homes will be increased by 20%, which will make it possible to relieve the burden of rents on families' budgets, announced Maria João Carreiro.

"Azorean citizens are well aware that this Government leaves no one behind," she emphasised.  

The 2025 Investment Plan also ensures the funding of new measures to support the inclusion of workers with vulnerabilities in the labour market, benefiting from the new Social Employment Market regulations. The latter replaces a legal document that had been in force in the Region for more than two decades.

The new measures include support for inclusive entrepreneurship,  the creation and maintenance of jobs, and support for disabled workers. According to her, this is "an intervention that makes the Public Administration, Social Institutions and Employers responsible" for the labour integration of unemployed people with low employability. 

"Azorean companies and the economy need everyone. Independence through income from work is essential if Azoreans are to pursue freely their personal and family life projects," stated Maria João Carreiro.  

The 2025 Plan also reinforces the focus on incentives for the qualification of young people and adults, both employed and unemployed, in partnership with Vocational Schools and Certified Training Organisations. Furthermore, it provides for investments in incentives for job quality, the promotion of professions, professional retraining and the creation of self-employment.