The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an indicator that shows the evolution of the state of the economy and the generation of wealth, registered a real growth of 2.1 percent in the Azores in the third quarter of this year, compared to the same period of 2016.
 
Hence, the data revealed in the quarterly estimate of the Regional Statistics Service (SREA) reveal the gradual consolidation of the recovery of the regional economy.
 
This GDP growth rate reflects the good performance of the regional economic indicators also recorded in the third quarter of this year, with a positive effects on the increased of employed population and reduction of unemployment.
 
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), the employed population in the Azores in the third quarter of this year is the largest since 2008, registering 112,351 workers. The figures represent 13,358 more employed people in the Azores compared to 2014, the year when the unemployment rate reached 18 percent.
 
Comparatively, the number of unemployed fell 54 percent.
 
According to the same source, the unemployment rate is now less than half of what it was in the first quarter of that year.
 
The unemployment rate dropped to 8.2 percent in the third quarter of this year, the lowest in almost seven years in the Region. It is even below the national average, which also fell to 8.5 percent.
 
The data from the Quarterly Employment Survey conducted by INE also show an increase in job creation in all sectors, compared to the same quarter of last year, representing a growth of 3.8%, i.e., 4,140 more jobs created in the Region.