Unemployment in Brazil drops to 9.8%, the lowest in six years

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The unemployment rate fell to 9.8% in the quarter of March, April, and May this year. It is the lowest percentage since the quarter ended in January 2016.

The IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) released the data on Thursday, June 30.

The result was better than market projections, indicating a 9.9% to 10.3% for the quarter.

The unemployment rate fell 1.4 percentage points compared to the previous quarter (from December 2021 to February 2022).

It also fell 4.9 percentage points compared with the same period last year. Today, the number of unemployed people reaches 10.6 million.

It has dropped 11.5% compared to the previous quarter (or 1.4 million fewer people). Against the quarter ending in May 2021, the drop was 30.2%, 4.6 million fewer unemployed people.

UNDER-USED

Those who are unemployed, work less than they could, or have not looked for a job even though they are available for work are considered underutilized.

The underutilization rate fell to 21.8% in the quarter ended in May this year. The drop was 1.7 percentage points compared to the quarter from December 2021 to February 2022.

In one year, the drop was 7.4 percentage points.

The number of underutilized people reached 25.4 million in the latest result. It decreased 6.8% (1.8 million less) compared to the previous quarter – from December to February.

It also fell compared to the quarter ended May 2021 (-23.8%, or 7.9 million fewer people).

Within the group of underutilized people, there is the rate of the discouraged, which are those who have not looked for a job because they do not believe they will get one.

The unemployed population fell 8% in the quarter ended in May 2022 against the previous quarter (December, January, and February). It now totals 4.3 million people.

It also decreased 22.6% compared to the period from March to May last year, which represents 1.3 million fewer people.

LABOR MARKET

The employed population reached 97.5 million people in the quarter ending in May, the record in the historical series, which began in 2012.

It rose 2.4% compared to the previous quarter (2.3 million more people) and 10.6% compared to the same period last year.

The occupation level was estimated at 56.4% (up 1.2 p.p. from the previous quarter).

The number of workers with a signed work contract was 35.6 million people, up 2.8%, or 981 thousand people, compared to the quarter ended in February and 12.1 (up 3.8 million people) in the year-on-year comparison.

The number of people working without a signed contract was the highest in the historical series, at 12.8 million people. The contingent rose 4.3% in comparison with the previous quarter. It rose and 23.6% in comparison with the quarter from March to May 2021.

The country’s informality rate was 40.1% of the employed population or 39.1 million workers. In the previous quarter, the rate had been 40.2%. In the same period last year, it was 39.5%.

AVERAGE INCOME

The Brazilian real average income reached R$2,613 (US$498) in the quarter ended in May. It remained stable compared to the previous quarter and fell 7.2% compared to the same period last year (R$2,790).

The real usual income mass reached R$249.8 billion, an increase of 3.2% against the previous quarter and 3% in the annual comparison.

With information from Poder360