Employment has increased under the government of President Hugo Chávez, according to statements made by the President of Venezuela’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), Elías Eljuri, during a televised interview.

During 13 years of government, more than 3.4 million stable jobs have been created. Nevertheless, President Chávez has insisted that more policies are need to reduce poverty and extreme poverty and eradicate unemployment in the country.

“The method we use to calculate the employment rate is the same as in 1967… One of the plans to reduce unemployment is the Great Mission Knowledge and Work,” Eljuri said.

He noted that the oil sabotage led by opposition sectors in Venezuela in late 2001 and early 2002 left two million people unemployed, but the labor market has since rebounded. Eljuri explained that the unemployment rate was 14.6 percent in 1999, after the oil sabotage in 2002 it reached 19.8, and by March 2012 it had been reduced to 7.9 percent.

Eljuri highlighted that the policies and strategies developed by President Chávez have paved the way for 82 percent access to public services among the population, including health care and education, through social missions that provide important social guarantees.

YVKE Mundial / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / April 27, 2012