The unemployment rate in the Azores remained at 6% in the third quarter of the year, according to figures released yesterday by the Regional Statistics Service (SREA).
“The unemployment rate was estimated at 6%, identical to the same quarter last year and 0.6 percentage points lower than the previous quarter,” reads the SREA report on the Employment Survey for the third quarter of 2023.
The region followed the national trend, keeping the unemployment rate at 6.1% in the year’s third quarter.
According to data from the National Statistics Institute, the country’s unemployment rate remained the same as in the previous quarter and increased by 0.1 percentage points year-on-year.
The active population, estimated by the Employment Survey in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, stood at 126,200 people, “representing an increase of 1% compared to the same quarter last year and 0.4% compared to the second quarter of 2023”.
The unemployed population in this period (7.6 thousand people) “increased compared to the same quarter last year (+1.3%) and decreased compared to the previous quarter (-8.4%)”.

The employed population (118,600) increased by 0.9 percent compared to the same quarter last year and by 1 percent compared to the second quarter of 2023. According to the SREA, the activity rate stood at 62%, up 0.2 percentage points in the same quarter last year and 0.1 percentage points in the second quarter of 2023.
In the third quarter of 2023, “21.7 thousand people aged 16 to 89 were absent from work in the reference week”.
The number of hours actually worked, which considers employees who didn’t work in the reference week, was 3,261,354. The services sector had the highest average monthly net wage income for employees (1,010 euros), showing a year-on-year change of +7.2%. According to the most recent figures released by the Regional Government, 4,810 unemployed people were registered at job centers in the Azores at the end of September.

in Diário Insular – José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.