Employment programme

A youth employment incentives programme, introduced by the government recently, will bear little fruit in the Algarve, said the president of the association of hotels and tourist resorts in the region. Elidérico Viegas from AHETA said the Impulso Jovem scheme has been designed for 18-month contracts but the restaurant and hotel sectors in the Algarve often employ people under three or six-month contracts during the high season. “The programme has proven to be of little use to the region’s reality and needs,” he said.