ALGARVE - Employment
Education and training: the keys to development
Employment in the region is markedly seasonal, with a reduction in the number of jobs between summer and winter. The number of persons in employment during the winter months is 20% lower than the figure for the summer. The level of education of those in employment has been improving. According to the 1991 census, 20% had educational qualifications beyond the statutory minimum period of schooling. This trend has been greatly helped by the existence of a range of vocational and professional schools which, in association with the tourism industry, have assisted the training and placement of professionals in the sector. Major efforts have been undertaken in agriculture in recent years to increase vocational training through a campaign which received substantial funding from the European Union.
In 1999, there were 172 400 persons in employment, representing 3.6% of the total employment of the country. There has been an increase of the number of persons in employment by 8.3% between 1995 and 1999 against a national average of 7.9%. Women represented 43.7% of the active population, two percentage points lower than at the country level. There is a clear difference between the employment rates for men (77.3% in 2001) and women (57.9%).
Seasonal employment
Employment in the region is highly dependent on tourism and varies according to the sector's seasons. In the summer months the labour market absorbs a large number of new workers (about 30 000). The internal structure of employment in the region has followed the changes in economic activity and has been transformed over the last 30 years. In 1999 agricultural workers accounted for 14% of those in work, while the share of the industrial sector was 16%. The service sector represented about 70% of employment in the region. The secondary sector is predominated by construction, with 61% of the total employment of the sector. A range of activities, such as the buying and selling of property, the construction of hotel complexes, transport of tourists, recreation, leisure and provision of personal services, make employment in the region increasingly dependent on tourism. Some of the jobs created in the Algarve are filled by workers from other regions.
This is particularly true in intensive agriculture and the civil engineering sector. In the holiday season, a large number of short-term jobs are taken up by students and other young people. In spite of this, there were however 95 500 residents of the region having temporary contracts in the region in 1999. Alongside this, there is also an informal component of employment, in the form of renting of private houses and the production of regional products such as confectionery and the crafts which, in view of the amount of income they generate, should not be regarded as insignificant.
Competition between agriculture and tourism
With 12 131 Euros per employee in 1998, the average annual wage per employee is rather low in Algarve. Compared to the national average, it represents only 88% of it. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the increase of this indicator between 1995 and 1998 has been less important in the region than in the country as a whole (respectively +16% against +19%)
Intensive horticulture (fruit and vegetables) and hotels are the sectors in which wages and salaries in the Algarve are the highest of all regions in Portugal. Competition between these two sectors, in which the hotels have gained the upper hand, is causing serious problems to agriculture because of the lack of labour. The reason for this is that the periods of greatest activity in the two sectors coincide, and it is very difficult for farmers to compete with tourism for local or regional labour. The gross disposable household income per capita in the Algarve is 6% higher than the national average. The benefits paid by the social security system are a major item in family budgets, particularly in rural communities. These may be supplemented by pensions paid from the countries of northern Europe in the case of workers who have returned to Portugal. Most of the families in this region were affected by emigration in the 1960s, hence the scale of these payments, which account for 5.6% of gross disposable household income. There are also major differences between average earnings in the various branches. For instance, while industry and construction have average earnings of 82% of the national average, banks and insurance have average earnings of 76% of the country?s average. However, when average earnings in construction are compared with those in other regions, it emerges that those in the Algarve are amongst the lowest in mainland Portugal.
Low unemployment - mainly affecting women
The unemployment rate was relatively low in 2001 in the region (3.6%) compared with the national value (4.0%) and especially European Union?s averages (7.6%). Unemployment in the Algarve associated with the highly seasonal nature of tourism in the region, as can be seen from the fact that the reduction in the number of jobs between the high and the low season accounts for about one-third of unemployment in the region. The decline of certain sectors of manufacturing industry, such as the canning and cork branches, has limited the progression the number of jobs and contributed to the increase in unemployment. Women account for 43.7% of the economically active population in 2001 and 60% of unemployment and are the group most affected by the seasonal fluctuations in unemployment. Unemployment amongst women in this region is however comparable to the national average. There are also large numbers of young people under 25 without work, corresponding to 30% of total unemployment in 2001. Long-term unemployment has decreased in the region as represented one quarter of the unemployment in 2001, while it was more than half in 1997.
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