The President of the Government met today with a group of women from the island of Santa Maria who, being unemployed, became entrepreneurs through the Premium CPE programme, which supports the creation of self-employment.
 
"These are good examples of women who shaped their destiny and turned adversity into an opportunity,” relying on the support of this programme created by the Regional Government,” stressed Vasco Cordeiro at the end of the meeting held under the Government’s statutory visit to Santa Maria Island.

Vasco Cordeiro, who was accompanied by the Vice-President of the Government, Sérgio Ávila, also mentioned several indicators showing the path that has been followed in the area of employability throughout the Region.

In this context, the President of the Government pointed out the example of Santa Maria, where there 291 unemployed registered at Agencies for Qualification and Employment in late 2014. By the end of July 2017, this figure had already dropped by 60 percent, that is, to 120 unemployed.

“Obviously, with regard to these 120 people, we need to continue working. This reduction does not show that the matter is solve, but rather that path we have been following the right path and implemented the appropriate measures,” said the government official.

Speaking to journalists, Vasco Cordeiro also considered that the success of programmes such as CPE Premium is not measured by the absence of difficulties, but by the fact that they are tools to overcome these challenges.

The hiring support programmes INTEGRA and INTEGRA Jovem and CPE Premium have already contributed to the creation of 139 jobs on Santa Maria.
 
Throughout the Region, the Premium CPE programme already supported 364 unemployment people on unemployment benefits in creation their own employment from June 2013 to this year.

The INTEGRA programmes to support companies in employment creation and the programme for hiring of trainees, PIIE, have created more than five thousand new jobs in the Azores.

Today’s meeting with Vasco Cordeiro was attended by women who created their own jobs in several areas, namely catering, manufacture of biscuits and jams, handicrafts, provision of cleaning services and street sales of bread, among others.