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Employment at record levels: We have reached 4.9 million workers.
Employment at record levels: We have reached 4.9 million workers.
Taking stock of the More Sustainable Employment Commitment measure
The Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, said that 17 500 people applied for the More Sustainable Employment Commitment, with more than 10 000 open-ended contracts concluded under the measure and 40.4 million euros paid.
The assessment of the measure launched in March was presented by the Minister during a hearing in the Committee on Budget and Finance as part of the general discussion of the proposal for the State Budget for 2023.
Of the total contracts, 45 percent were signed with young people up to the age of 35, he said.
The Sustainable Employment Commitment measure consists of financial support to companies hiring permanent unemployed registered in employment centres.
Applications started on 15 March and run until the end of the year, according to the deadlines indicated by the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP).
As for the Internships Ativar.pt there were 66,000 approved internships so far and 9 thousand conversions into open-ended contracts, which is equivalent to the payment of 204 million euros.
Ana Mendes Godinho also mentioned that the coverage rate of active employment policies was 26.1% in 2022, compared to 20% in 2015.
In the balance sheet on the labour market, the Minister highlighted the data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) released on November 10, noting that "they reflect a record number of employees in Portugal" with 4.9 million people in employment.
"We have 50,000 more people in employment than in 2021," he said.
The INE data also show that the number of workers with open-ended contracts corresponds to 83.5% of total employees in 2022, 99 thousand more people than the previous year and that the precariousness rate decreased from 22.2% to 16.5%.
As for the evolution of wages in 2022, there is an increase of "4.9% in the private sector", reflecting the social security contributions, which are growing by 11%, stressed the Minister.
Source: Government Portal