The Azores
The European Social Fund
in the Azores, Portugal, 2007-2013
The Azores is using ESF funding to help modernise its existing industries
and support new ones. It is achieving this by improving education levels,
bringing more women into the workforce, encouraging more R&D-based
enterprises, and giving workers and entrepreneurs the skills they need to
help modernise existing traditional businesses as well as supplying new,
growing sectors such as tourism.
The European Social Fund in brief
The European Social Fund, created in 1957, is the European Union’s main financial instrument for investing
in people. It supports employment and helps people enhance their education and skills. This improves their
job prospects.
Member States and regions devise their own ESF Operational Programmes, in order to respond to the real
needs ‘on the ground’. Over the period 2007-2013, the ESF will spend over 10 billion euros per year across all
Member States. This represents more than 10 % of the European Union’s total budget.
These are the five priorities of ESF funding at EU level :
Helping workers and enterprises adapt to changing circumstances in the economy
Enhancing access to employment and participation in the workforce
Improving training and skills, both for individuals, and through better education and training systems
Promoting partnerships between actors such as employers, trade unions and non-governmental
organisations, for reform in the fields of employment and inclusion in the labour market
Reinforcing the social inclusion of disadvantaged people and combating discrimination in the
labour market
In some Member States and regions, the ESF can also support actions to improve the capacity and
effectiveness of public administrations and public services.
%UROPEAN#OMMISSION
The socio-economic and employment situation in the Azores
Situated in the Atlantic Ocean, 1 500 kilometres west of Lisbon, the Azores archipelago is an
autonomous region of Portugal and one of the most distant EU regions. It consists of nine major
islands and has 240 000 inhabitants. GDP per capita is less than the Portuguese average – 89 %
in 2007 and 68 % of the EU-27. Fishing and agriculture are important industries, as is the growing
tourism sector. The public sector, including administration, health and education, is a major source of
employment. Most economic activity is concentrated on the two islands of Sao Miguel and Terceira.
At the start of 2009, the employment rate (64.9 %) was only about 5 % below the average for
Portugal (68.2 %) and near the EU’s target of 70 %. Overall the employment rate is growing. The
employment rate for women is 44.1 % and is also increasing. The youth employment rate (45.7 %)
is higher than Portugal’s average (43 %). Youth unemployment is also relatively low by national
standards. Total unemployment for all segments of the population has been low for several years
– currently it stands at 6.7 %, compared to Portugal’s 8.9 % unemployment rate.
At the heart of the employment strategy for the Azores is the need to provide suitably qualified
workers for the future labour market, in particular for the growing tourism sector, but also for the
new-technology companies that the region wants to attract. Education is critical for this, which
is why the Azores has made large investments in education and training in recent years – for
example, today, there are ten times more young people in vocational training than previously.
However, these efforts must be sustained because general levels of education are low – over 86 %
of the active workforce only have a basic level of education, more than Portugal overall (79.6 %)
and much more than the EU-25 average of 32.6 % (2002 figures). Further, the University of the
Azores – which has poles of research excellence in fields such as vulcanology and oceanography
– is seeing falling enrolments as students increasingly opt to study on the mainland. Developing
new fields of excellence, and bringing its curriculum closer to the requirements of enterprises,
would help provide the Azores with more highly qualified workers.
Regional disparities are seen on the smaller islands in the archipelago, where fishing and
agriculture are the main industries. Here, the populations are older, as younger people move to
the larger islands for job opportunities, and the provision of social services is lower – putting
more people at risk of poverty.
ESF priorities in the Azores
The Operational Programme for ESF funding in
the Azores – Pro-Emprego – seeks to continue and
increase efforts to raise the qualifications of the
people of the Azores, in particular in the areas of
science and technology, and to attract technically
qualified young people to the islands. These aims are
in line with the Azorean strategy of attracting newtechnology enterprises to the islands as part of the
overall economic development strategy. A higher
participation rate of women in the workforce is also
a target. To achieve these aims the OP has one main
priority for funding:
Priority : Improving human capital,
employment and regional competitiveness
Within this priority there are three general objectives:
To support and modernise the productive
sector by providing a qualified workforce,
promoting lifelong learning and supporting
entrepreneurship. This includes helping small
businesses to modernise and acquire new
management skills. Measures are also planned
for increasing the supply of technically qualified
workers and consultants who can contribute to
the modernisation of the productive sectors, for
example in fishing and agriculture.
Young people will be helped to improve their
chances of getting a job by paying attention to
their individual needs and improving working
practices in businesses, for example with jobsharing schemes to allow time for both study
and employment.
To support the restructuring of the science and
technology sector and make it more relevant
to the needs of businesses. This means reforms
to the education and training system and the
creation of networks between R&D centres and
businesses.
Initiatives will be promoted that support R&Dbased employment and entrepreneurship
and encourage the take-up of information
and knowledge-based technologies which
contribute to regional competitiveness. There
will be more help for setting up new businesses
based on R&D activities. More support will be
given to workers’ mobility, including people
moving to the Azores, and exchanges of R&D
personnel with other EU regions. Training
in information technologies will also be
Financial plan for the
European Social Fund in
the Azores 2007–2013
(euro)
Priority axis
Improving
human capital,
employment
and regional
competitiveness
0.53 %
Technical
assistance
Total
99.47 %
supported, for example as part of the drive
to improve public administration and the
development of e-government services.
To promote social inclusion by improving the
employability of vulnerable groups, such as
unemployed immigrants, the disabled and
older workers. Further actions will give them
better access to jobs and training, support
their entrepreneurship, and help with their
integration into working life.
Support will be given to the reintegration of
people who are returning to work, for example
returning parents. Measures will be encouraged
to reconcile the demands of work and home life
and to fight gender-based discrimination in the
workplace, for example by encouraging jobsharing for those with childcare responsibilities.
Help will be given to more women to find jobs,
in particular in the private sector.
In addition to the main human resources priority,
the Azores OP also has a technical assistance
priority to support the strategic and operational
implementation of the programme.
Community
funding
Regional/
National
counterpart
Total
funding
189 000 000
33 352 942
222 352 942
1 000 000
176 471
1 176 471
190 000 000
33 529 413
223 529 413
KE-30-09-176-EN-D
Some earlier ESF projects in the Azores, 2000-2006
Maternity leave – while a welcome event for parents and a hard-fought social right for workers –
can prove a headache for employers. Experienced and valued staff are absent for several months and
replacing them is difficult, which can be disruptive for the organisations concerned. The ‘Job Cradle’
project solved this issue by offering women job-seekers work on a temporary basis to replace those on
leave. The initiative gave unemployed women in receipt of benefits the chance to obtain temporary
work. The replacements started work one month before the maternity leave began, to familiarise
themselves with the job, and finished one month after the leave, so that they could bring the returning
parent up to date. Businesses benefited through easy access to replacement workers, returning
parents benefited from the easy reinsertion into work after leave, and the replacement female workers
benefited from the job experience, new skills and better employability. A win-win project all round.
With the fishing sector as a major employer on Faial Island, the local school for vocational training
introduced a new course in oceanography, marine science and fishing resources for young people.
This formed part of efforts to revitalise and modernise the fishing sector which requires a supply of young,
qualified people to take it forward into the future. The success of the training was helped by the presence of
the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries at the University of the Azores which is on the island. As well
as providing technically qualified workers for the local fishing fleet and industry, the initiative contributed to
keeping young Azoreans on the island and reducing outward immigration. Overall, it provided an excellent
example of co-operation between the academic and commercial sectors in the local economy.
New opportunities were opened to young Azoreans by the Professional School of the Great Ribeira on the
Island of Miguel. Technical training courses in audio-visual and multimedia production helped young people
develop their knowledge and abilities in these vital ICT technologies to boost their job chances and the
contribution they can make to the economic and social life in the Azores. The courses were supported by
the local state radio and television broadcaster, RTP-Azores, which contributed technical facilities and gave
hands-on experience to participants, and also by the Regional Sports Authority. The project proved a good
example of co-operation between different institutions in the Azores for the benefit of the local economy
and society.
ESF contacts
In the Azores
Eligible regions 2007-2013
Mr Rui Bettencourt
Direcção Regional do Trabalho
e Qualificação Profissional
Rua Dr José Bruno Tavares Carreiro,
PT - 9500-119 Ponta Delgada
Tel. : +351 296 308 000
Fax : +351 296 308 190
E-mail : [email protected]
http://www.azores.gov.pt/Portal/pt/
entidades/srec-drtqp/
At the European Commission
Information service of DG Employment,
Social Affairs & Equal Opportunities
Communication Unit
BE-1049 Brussels
Fax : +32 (0)2 296 23 93
E-mail : [email protected]
http://ec.europa.eu/esf
© EuroGeographics Association for the administrative boundaries
The level of ESF funding differs from one region to another
depending on their relative wealth.
With a GDP per head of less than 75 % of the EU25 average, the Azores region is eligible under the
convergence objective.