Unemployment rate falls to 7.5% in the quarter ending in April, reports IBGE

May 29, 2024

4 min read

The number of unemployed people reached 8.2 million people, representing the best result for this moving quarter since 2014, which registered 7.2%. Both workers with a formal contract and those without a formal contract reached record numbers.

The unemployment rate was 7.5% in the quarter ending in April - Photo Reproduction/Agência Brasil

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) released this Wednesday morning (29), a new survey on the unemployment rate in Brazil. According to the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) Continuing, the unemployment rate in the country fell to 7.5% in the quarter ended in April. Compared to the previous quarter, which ended in January, the unemployment rate remained stable, at 7.6%. In the same quarter of 2023, the rate was 8.5%. This is the best result for this quarter since 2014, when it was 7.2%, and is below financial market projections, which predicted 7.8%.

Based on the results, the absolute number of unemployed remained practically unchanged compared to the previous quarter, totaling 8.2 million people. In an annual comparison, there was a decrease of 9.7%.

What is Continuous Pnad

PNAD is a research carried out by IBGE in Brazilian households to investigate various socioeconomic characteristics of society, such as population, education, work, income, housing, social security, migration, fertility, marriage, health, nutrition, among other topics relevant to the country. The research is conducted with a representative sample of the population. The dissemination of the study began in January 2012 throughout the country. When collecting data, the research evaluates indicators related to the workforce only at the geographic level of Brazil. The monthly indicators are based on information from the last three consecutive months of the survey. Therefore, they do not reflect the situation of each month, but rather the performance of each moving quarter of the year.

Data analysis

The reduction in the unemployment rate reflects a scenario of economic recovery in the country, driven by several factors, such as increased economic activity and the creation of new jobs. According to IBGE, in the quarter ending in April, the employed population remained stable, with an estimated 100.8 million people. Throughout the year, there was an increase of 2.8%, representing an increase of 2.8 million employed people. According to Adriana Beringuy, coordinator of Household Surveys at IBGE, these numbers demonstrate that the country continues to reduce its unemployment rate, a trend that has been observed since 2023.

According to Beringuy, it is important to highlight that the arrival of April interrupted an increase in the unemployment rate that occurred in the first quarter due to seasonal factors. The return of educational sectors and the recovery of jobs in commerce contribute to the stabilization of this indicator. The employment level in the working-age population was 57.3%, which represents an increase of 1.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The total number of people in the labor force (employed and unemployed) increased by 1.8%, reaching 109 million. The number of people out of the labor force remained stable at 66.8 million compared to the previous quarter.

According to the survey, the data reveals the following numbers:

Unemployment rate: 7.5%
Unemployed population: 8.2 million people
Employed population: 100.8 million
Population outside the labor force: 66.8 million
Discouraged population: 3.5 million
Employees with a formal contract: 38.188 million
Employees without a formal contract: 13.6 million
Self-employed workers: 25.5 million
Domestic workers: 5.9 million
Informal workers: 39 million
Informality rate: 38.7%

With more than 100 million Brazilians employed, IBGE recorded record numbers of workers with and without a formal contract. The number of employees with a formal contract in the private sector (excluding domestic workers) reached 38.188 million, the highest number in the historical series of the survey that began in 2012. Compared to the previous quarter, there was statistical stability, but in relation to the same period From 2023, there was an increase of 3.8%, which represents an increase of 1.4 million people in this group.

Out-of-market population

Not quarter, the number of unregistered employees in the private sector reached 13.6 million people, a record in the historical series. Compared to April last year, there was a growth of 6.4%, totaling 813 thousand more people. The number of informal workers saw a small drop of 0.5% in the quarter, reaching 39 million. This represents an informality rate of 38.7%, compared to 39% in the previous quarter. The underutilization rate, which takes into account unemployed people, people who could work more and those who do not want to work, continues to fall. The country currently has 20.1 million underutilized people, resulting in an underutilization rate of 17.4%.

The number of workers in the country reached the lowest level since 2015, according to Beringuy. According to her, there was stability compared to the previous quarter and a drop of 1 percentage point compared to the same period of the previous year. Beringuy also noted that the job market is booming, with a general increase in the number of workers, especially as employees, which has kept average incomes rising. Informality is still significant, but has remained stable in recent quarters, with growth in the number of formal workers.

Performance

In the previous quarter, the usual real income remained stable at R$3,151. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, there was an increase of 4.7%. The usual real income reached a record value of R$313.1 billion, with an insignificant variation compared to the previous quarter and a growth of 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year.