Almost 30% of young Cape Verdeans were unemployed in 2022

According to data from the INE report on Labor Market Statistics in 2022, consulted today by Lusa, Cape Verde ended the year with an active population – set of the employed population and the unemployed population aged 15 or more – of 352,494 individuals, representing 71.8% of the total.

The employed or occupied population in Cape Verde totaled 178,016 individuals at the end of 2022, while the unemployed population was estimated at 24,420 individuals, resulting in an unemployment rate of 12.1%.

“There was an unemployment rate of 10.3% among men and 14.0% among women. ”

“The unemployment rate in the 15-24-year-old age group was 27.3%, while in the 25-34-year-old age group, there was an estimated rate of 13.8%,” the document states.

The INE also estimates that 51,654 individuals aged 15-35 were not employed and were outside the education or training system, “representing 29.2% of the total number of young people in this age group.”

Cape Verde closed 2020 with an unemployment rate of 14.5% – 11.3% in 2019 – against the government expectation of almost 20%, a less negative result explained by the successive ‘lay-off’ periods, mainly covering tourism-related companies.

The dismissed worker received 70% of the salary, partly supported by the Cape Verdean social security, to mitigate the consequences of the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Government had previously estimated to have ended 2021 with a similar unemployment rate of 14.5%, which it hoped to lower to 14.2% in 2022.

According to government data previously reported by Lusa, job creation in Cape Verde in 2021 and 2022 was insufficient to offset the loss of nearly 20,000 jobs in 2020 due to Covid-19.

The forecasts are in the document supporting the State Budget law for 2022, which estimated the creation of 9,749 net jobs last year.

For 2021, the Government estimated the creation of 6,021 net jobs, so in two years, 15,770 jobs will be created, fulfilling the forecasts.

However, in 2020 alone, due to the economic consequences of the pandemic, namely the total absence of tourism since March, Cape Verde lost 19,718 net jobs.

In 2019, Cape Verde created 11,344 net jobs, according to government data.

With information from Lusa

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