Unemployment rate reaches 7.9% in the quarter ended in March, reveals IBGE
The rate rose 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, reaching 8.6 million people. Even with this increase, the first quarter's performance is the most positive since 2014.
Unemployed rate is still below the 8.8% recorded in the same moving quarter of 2023 - Photo Reproduction/Marcelo Camargo
The unemployment rate in Brazil reached 7.9% in the quarter that ended in March, as revealed by the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) Continuous, released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) this Tuesday (30). This represents an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, which recorded 7.4% unemployment in December. Compared to the same period in 2023, when the rate was 8.8%, there was a significant drop.
Despite the increase, the first quarter result is the best since 2014, when it was 7.2%, and is below financial market expectations, which predicted 8.1%. This resulted in an absolute increase of 6.7% in the number of unemployed compared to the previous quarter, totaling 8.6 million people. Compared to the previous year, there was a reduction of 8.6%.
An overview of the situation
The unemployment rate is a fundamental indicator to understand the economic health of a country and the well-being of its population. In Brazil, this indicator is especially relevant due to its social and political implications. During the first quarter of 2024, there was a 0.8% drop in the economically active population, totaling approximately 100.2 million people. Year-to-date, there was an increase of 2.4%, which represents an increase of 2.4 million people employed. According to Adriana Beringuy, coordinator of Household Surveys at IBGE, the increase in the unemployment rate was mainly attributed to the reduction in employment, a seasonal pattern observed in the workforce during the first quarter.
The employment index, representing the proportion of people employed in the working age population, was calculated at 57%, showing a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, but an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, the number of people in the labor force, including employed and unemployed, grew by 1.5%, totaling approximately 108.8 million. Meanwhile, the population outside the labor force remained stable at 66.9 million, compared with the previous period.
Search Details
Unemployment rate: 7.9%
Unemployed population: 8.6 million people
Employed population: 100.2 million
Population outside the labor force: 66.9 million
Discouraged population: 3.6 million
Employees with a formal contract: 37.98 million
Employees without a formal contract: 13.4 million
Self-employed workers: 25.4 million
Domestic workers: 5.9 million
Informal workers: 38.9 million
Informality rate: 38.9%
Economic Impacts
The positive results of the survey highlight the sustainability of formal employment levels. With a total of 37.984 million workers with a formal contract, this quarter reached a historic milestone, even with the increase representing statistical stability. The maintenance of formal employment in the private sector, in a period of general decline in employment, significantly signals progress in the formalization of the workforce", explains Beringuy, from IBGE.
As for informal employment, there was a slight drop, which the institute considers stable. This quarter, 13.4 million workers were registered without a formal contract, compared to 13.5 million in the previous quarter — which was a record for this comparative series. In the segment of informal workers (38.9 million people), there was a decrease of 589 thousand workers in the quarter, a reduction of 1.5%.
In the last quarter, the usual real income increased by 1.5%, reaching the mark of R$3,123. Year-to-date, this growth was 4%. The usual real income mass also reached a new historic level, estimated at R$308.3 billion. There was minimal change from the previous quarter, but a notable increase of 6.6% compared to the previous year.
