During the regular session of the State Reform and Local Power Commission, the minister acknowledged that “many buildings are facing difficulties in moving forward due to a lack of labor.”
“When speaking with companies, many of them say ‘no, it’s not a lack of labor, you’re just setting prices too low,’ and projects are only awarded, in some cases, in the second, third, fourth, or fifth tender, with increasingly higher bidding bases. My belief is that there is indeed a lack of labor. If labor were abundant, projects would be awarded at different prices,” he insisted, addressing the deputies.
To address the labor shortage, the former mayor of São João da Madeira emphasized the importance of immigration, whether by spontaneous initiative or promoted by business associations or large companies that have “a facilitated path for the integration of immigrants to work in Portugal.”
The minister emphasized that this “facilitated path” only occurs if immigrants have secured “a job position, a work contract, and a decent place to live.”
Despite a “very slow” start, the official highlighted that this is now progressing “a bit faster” and that “there are already many people coming to Portugal through this route, with faster integration processes” due to guaranteed work and housing.
In addition to these measures, the minister discussed cooperation with some Portuguese-speaking African countries where vocational training is provided, and some trainees come to Portugal “already with training suited to the needs of companies.”
The minister also touched on several measures approved by the Government aimed at reducing housing prices in Portugal, such as changes to Municipal Master Plans to build on rustic land, tax changes for construction and renting, or the intention to launch a European Investment Bank (EIB) line for municipalities.
The housing price index rose 17.2% in the second quarter, increasing by 0.9 percentage points compared to the previous three months, with transactions exceeding 10 billion euros, reported the National Institute of Statistics (INE) today.
According to the INE, existing home prices rose 18.3% and new housing prices 14.5% between April and June.
Compared to the previous three months, the Housing Price Index (HPI) increased 4.7%, against 4.8% in the previous quarter, with existing homes seeing a 5.1% increase and new housing a 3.8% rise.
