Over Three Million Have Been Seeking Employment for Over Two Years in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Approximately 3.2 million people have been looking for work in Brazil for two years or longer. According to data from the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (PNAD Continuous), released yesterday, November 19th, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), this represents 25.2 percent of the country’s 12.5 million unemployed.

The overall unemployment rate in Brazil in the third quarter of this year, released in late October, stood at 11.8 percent, below the 12 percent recorded in the second quarter. According to the IBGE, some 1.8 million, or 7.1 percent of the unemployed, had been looking for jobs for less than a month.

The Continuous PNAD released yesterday also included data on the unemployment rate in the states. The state of São Paulo was the only one to show a drop in the unemployment rate from the second to the third quarter this year. The rate fell from 12.8 percent to 12 percent in the period in São Paulo.

According to IBGE researcher Adriana Beringuy, the drop was due to a reduction in the number of unemployed and not due to increased occupations.

Rondônia, on the other hand, was the only state with a high unemployment growth rate, rising from 6.7 to 8.2 percent. The other 25 federation units remained stable, according to IBGE data.

The highest rates were found in the states of Bahia (16.8 percent), Amapá (16.7 percent) and Pernambuco (15.8 percent). The lowest levels were recorded in Santa Catarina (5.8 percent), Mato Grosso do Sul (7.5 percent), and Mato Grosso (eight percent).

In comparison with the third quarter last year, there were rises in Goiás (from 8.9 to 10.8 percent) and Mato Grosso ( from 6.7 to 8 percent). Three states showed a drop in this type of comparison: São Paulo (from 13.1 percent to 12 percent), Alagoas (from 17.1 percent to 15.4 percent), and Sergipe (from 17.5 percent to 14.7 percent).

The composite rate of underutilization of the workforce (percentage of people unemployed or under-occupied by insufficiency of hours worked) was 24 percent in the country. Maranhão (41.6 percent) and Piauí (41.1 percent) showed estimates above 40 percent.

On the other hand, the lowest rates were found in Santa Catarina (10.6 percent), Mato Grosso (14.7 percent), Rio Grande do Sul (16.3 percent), and Mato Grosso do Sul (16.3 percent).

The number of discouraged people (people who gave up looking for work) was 4.7 million people in the third quarter. The greatest quotas were in Bahia (781,000) and Maranhão (592,000) and the lowest in Roraima (17,000) and Amapá (19,000).

The percentage of discouraged people was 4.2 percent. The highest percentages were found in Maranhão (18.3 percent) and Alagoas (16.5 percent) and the lowest in Santa Catarina (1.1 percent), Rio Grande do Sul (1.3 percent) and the Federal District (1.3 percent).

Santa Catarina showed the highest percentage of employees with a signed worker’s record booklet (87.7 percent). The lowest percentage was found in Maranhão (49.9 percent).

The federative entities with the highest percentage of workers without a signed worker’s registration book in the private sector were Maranhão (50.1 percent), Pará (49.9 percent), and Piauí (49.9 percent). The lowest rates were found in Rio Grande do Sul (18.1 percent) and Santa Catarina (12.3 percent).

Source: Agência Brasil