RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With a new record of informality, the unemployment rate was stable in the quarter ended in October, reported Friday, November 29th, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
In all, 36.3 million Brazilians were working informally in the period.
The number considers those who are employed in the private sector without a signed worker’s record book (11.9 million) and the self-employed (24.4 million).
In the quarter ended in October, the unemployment rate was 11.6 percent, compared to 11.8 percent in the immediately preceding quarter and 11.7 percent in the same quarter of 2018. According to the IBGE, the indicator remained “statistically stable”: 12.4 million Brazilians sought employment in the quarter.
The underutilized population – which includes those seeking employment, giving up looking for work or working fewer hours than they would like – fell 3.5 percent to 27.1 million people.
According to the IBGE, the average monthly income of Brazilian workers was stable, at R$2,317 (US$579.25), or 1.1 percent higher than in the quarter ended in July.