Cape Verde currently has a total of approximately 33,000 unemployed people, or 18.3% of the population. The figure, which refers to 2006, represents a drop of 6.1 percentage points from the previous year. According to the report, the unemployment rate decreased throughout the entire country, particularly in Praia, where the joblessness rate fell to 15.5%, a 10-percentage-point drop that puts the capital city below the national average.

On Sal, the unemployment rate dropped 9.5% to stand at 9%, making it the only island with a single-digit figure.

The island of Fogo is close to the objective outlined by Prime Minister José Maria Neves for the current legislature, with a 12% unemployment rate last year. On the island of São Vicente, the unemployment rate decreased from 32.2% to 24.9%, but is still above the national average. Similarly, Santo Antão’s unemployment rate last year stood at 27.1%, despite a 6% drop from the previous year.

The rest of the island of Santiago outside of Praia saw the smallest drop in the unemployment rate (0.8 percentage points), but even so was below the national average with a 17.7% rate.

This reduction in the unemployment rate should, according to the INE and the IEFP, be regarded with prudence, as “there are few conclusive indications that allow us to confirm that this is a self-sustaining process.” Even so, statistical professionals hint that the 6.1 percentage point drop could be related to the creation of some 19,000 new job posts, 10,000 of which were in the agricultural sector and in the inert extraction industry.

With an economically active population estimated at 183,000 individuals, Cape Verde has 150,000 workers, an increase of some 13,000 active workers in relation to 2005.

Source A semana