Unemployment Rate in Brazil Remains Stable in Q3/2014

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The unemployment rate in Brazil during the third quarter of the year remained stable at 6.8 percent, according to the IBGE (Brazilian Statistical Institute) through its quarterly National Household Survey (Continuous PNAD). The result was the same as that of the second quarter (July-September) results, and slightly lower than that of the third quarter of 2013, which was of 6.9 percent.

“The increase of the occupied population (0.2 percent) and the decrease of the unoccupied population (0.9 percent) was not sufficient to change the rate (unemployment),” said Cimar Azevedo, coordinator of Labor and Income at the IBGE.

In all, the survey showed that 92.3 million persons were working in Brazil during the third quarter, with still a high number (39.1 percent) of working-age people out of the workforce (not employed and not actively seeking employment). The Continuous PNAD also showed that 78.2 percent of the workers in the private sector had formal labor contracts, an increase by 1.5 percentage points in relation to the third quarter last year.

The Northeastern region of Brazil registered the largest unemployment rate (8.6 percent) while the South registered the lowest (4.2 percent). Unemployment was greatest among 18-24 years old (15.3 percent), while between 40-59 percent the unemployment rate for those in the labor force was of 3.4 percent.

The Continuous PNAD index is a quarterly survey and will replace the traditional Annual PNAD and Monthly Employment Survey (PME). The new index showed a higher unemployment rate than the PME which closed the third quarter at 4.93 percent.