The Vice-President of the Government highlighted the fact that the Azores have registered in the end of January 2016, "the lowest number of unemployed of the past 39 months."
 
Commenting on the statistical information released by the National Government, through the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training Institute, Sérgio Ávila stressed that the Region "has been assuring a sustainable and consolidated reduction in the number of registered unemployed."
 
"The data show that there has been a reduction of 7.4 percent in the number of registered unemployed compared to January of the previous year, that is, a period of 12 months. The number of unemployed continues to drop with regard to the previous month," said Sérgio Ávila.
 
The Vice-President stressed that the Azores have been "the only region of the country with fewer registered unemployed in January 2016 than in the previous month," pointing out the "special significance" of the data for the Region.
 
"They confirm the consolidation of our strategy to combat unemployment and create jobs as well as its sustainability insofar as this trend has recorded consecutively over several months, with the creation of more jobs in the Azores," said Sérgio Ávila.
 
Nevertheless, the Vice-President assured, however, that despite these data, the Government "will not only maintain but also reinforce active employment policies so that the solution we have managed to find to thousands of Azoreans may also reach those who still do not have a job.
 
"These positive results will only strengthen our will and our momentum to continue focusing on employment creation and combat to unemployment as a strategic priority of the Government's action."