Brazil: Unemployment rate drops to lowest level since 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to 10.5% in the quarter ended in April (February, March, and April) 2021. It is the lowest percentage since the quarter of December, January, and February 2016. The unemployed population fell to 11.3 million people.

The IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) released the data on Tuesday (May 31, 2022).

The unemployment rate reached the lowest level since 2015 for the quarter from February to April. The latest result released by IBGE showed that the rate fell 0.7 percentage points compared to the quarter from November 2021 to January 2022 and 4.3 percentage points compared to the same period in 2021.

In absolute numbers, the unemployed population reached 11.3 million people, representing a drop of 5.8% compared to the previous quarter, from November 2021 to January 2022. The decline represents a decrease of 699,000 job seekers. Compared with the quarter ended April 2021, the number of unemployed fell by 25.3% or 3.8 million people.

UNDERWORKED

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 underwork rate fell to 22.5% in the quarter ended in April this year. The drop was 1.4 percentage points compared to the quarter from November 2021 to January 2022. In one year, the drop was 7.1 percentage points.

The number of underutilized people reached 26.1 million in the latest result. It decreased by 6% (1.7 million less) compared with the previous quarter – from November to January. It also fell compared to the quarter ended in April 2021 (-22.5%, or 7.6 million less people).

Within the group of the underworked, 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 by 6.4% in the quarter ended in April 2022 against the previous quarter (November, December, and January). It now totals 4.5 million people. It also decreased by 24.6% compared from February to April last year, representing 1.5 million fewer people.

LABOR MARKET

The employed population reached 96.5 million people in the quarter ended in April, the record in the historical series, which began in 2012. It rose 1.1% compared with the previous quarter and 10.3% compared with the same period last year.

The number of workers with signed work booklets was 35.2 million people, up 2.0%, or 690,000 people, compared with the quarter ended in January and 11.6% (up 3.7 million people) year-on-year.

The number of people working without a signed contract was the highest in the historical series, at 12.5 million people. The contingent was stable compared to the previous quarter. It was up 20.8% in comparison with the quarter from February to April 2021.

The country’s informality rate was 40.1% of the employed population, or 38.7 million workers. In the previous quarter, the rate had been 30.4%. In the same period last year, it was 39.3%.

AVERAGE INCOME

The Brazilian real average income reached R$2,569 (US$544) in the quarter ended in April. It remained stable in comparison to the previous quarter (R$2,566). It fell 7.9% compared to the same period last year (R$2,790). The real usual income mass reached R$242.9 billion.

With information from Poder360