In 2023, more than five thousand people witnessed the abolition of unemployment benefits

The number of people whose unemployment benefits were canceled due to failure to meet obligations to jobcentres fell by 7.1% in 2023 compared to the previous year, to 5,403, according to a report published this Wednesday by the IEFP.

Based on enrollment, the unemployment benefit cancellation rate in 2023 was 3.6%, down from 3.8% the previous year, according to the Institute’s Employment and Training Resource Committee (IEFP) activity report.

The reduction in the number of cancellations occurred against the backdrop of the fact that the number of unemployed people registered at employment centers increased by 9% at the end of the year, to 317,659 (26,306 more than last year).

According to the document, the average monthly number of subsidized unemployed people increased by 0.3% to 151,995 people.

The main reason for the cancellation of registration of subsidized unemployed people was failure to show up for a call from the employment service (71%), failure to fulfill the obligation to actively search for work (11%) followed by failure to appear at the sending authorities (9%), refusal of suitable employment (3%) and unfounded refusal or exclusion from vocational training (2%).

The Lisbon region was the region that recorded the highest number of unemployment benefit cancellations (47% of the total), followed by the North (23%), Algarve (14%), Center (11%) and Alentejo (5%).

According to the report, of the 5,403 unemployed people whose registration was cancelled, 675 did not comply and appealed to the Appeals Committee, with 276 appeals being decided in favor of the applicants.

The main allegations made by complainants were failure to receive notification (57.3%), illness (10.7%) and difficulties in using the Electronic Notification Service (7.9%).

“The citizenship of applicants to the Appeal Committee is not limited to characteristics based on age or level of education, but allows us to take a fresh look at the phenomenon of unemployment in the country,” the committee points out.

The document states the percentage of non-citizens among applicants at the first level is 35%, and at the second level – 27%, “many of them have difficulties with the Portuguese language and need to integrate into Portuguese society and culture, in direct proportion to the distance from their original culture” .

“Even many of the country’s current citizens not included in the above percentage are such by acquisition and also experience difficulties in their relationships with institutions and in social and professional integration,” the commission says.

As he emphasizes, “this new reality imposes new public policy strategies, not only in terms of employment/training, social security, that allow the acceptance and integration, in law and in fact, of these new workers into Portuguese society.”