Unemployment Drops Again, Brazil Closes 2019 with 11.6 Million Jobless People

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – For the second year running, the unemployment rate in Brazil has dropped. In the quarter ended in December last year, the unemployment rate fell to 11 percent, totaling 11.6 million jobless people.

There was a reduction of 520,000 unemployed people in comparison to the same period last year, when the rate stood at 11.6 percent. The data are from the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (PNAD Continuous), released this Friday, January 31st, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

For the full year 2019, an average of 12.6 million people were unemployed, for a rate of 11.9 percent. This annual average rate was lower than 2018 (12.3%) and was the lowest since 2016 (11.5%).

The increase in informality was the prime mover for the – still slow – resumption of jobs.

The total number of workers without a signed worker’s record book (domestic workers without a work permit, self-employed without a CNPJ, and auxiliary family workers) – reached 41.1 percent of the workforce, representing 38.4 million people, the largest contingent since 2016, despite the stability compared to 2018.

The self-employed category, with 24.6 million people, remained stable in the last quarter. Compared to the last quarter of 2018, there was an increase (3.3 percent), representing an additional estimated 782,000 people.

However, in the last quarter of the year, there was an increase in the number of hired workers with a signed worker’s record book. According to IBGE, the number of employees in the private sector with a signed worker’s record book increased by 1.8 percent compared to the previous quarter, reaching 33.7 million; while the number of workers without a signed worker’s record book remained stable, at 11.9 million.

In comparison with the quarter from October to December 2018, there was an increase of 2.2 percent in the number of workers with a record book (726,000 more people); and 3.2 percent in the number of workers without a record book, representing an additional estimated 367,000 people.

“Although the growth in the fourth quarter is one of the largest in the series, the figure of 33.7 million is still about 3 million below the series’ record of 36.7 million in 2014,” says Adriana Beringuy, an analyst at PNAD Continuous.

The types of activities that recorded an increase in the number of people employed compared to the previous quarter were: trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (2.1 percent, or an additional 376,000 people); hospitality and catering (3.3 percent, or an additional 179,000 people); and other services (3.0 percent, or an additional 151,000 people). There was a reduction in the group of agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing and aquaculture (2.1 percent, or 178 thousand less people).

Compared to the quarter from October to December 2018, there was an increase in industry (3.3 percent, or an additional 388,000 people); hospitality and catering (5.2 percent, or an additional 282,000 people); and other services (4.5 percent, or an additional 221,000 people). The other groups had no significant variation.