MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Unemployment drops in Brazil

Unemployment went down in six Brazilian states and remained stable in the rest, IBGE's report showed

According to the Quarterly Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) released Thursday by Brazil's Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the unemployment rate in the third quarter of this year went down from 9.3% to 8.7% overall from the previous quarter, thanks to drops in six states: Paraná (-0.8 %), Minas Gerais (-0.9 %), Maranhão (-1.1%), Acre (-1.8%), Ceará (-1.8%) and Rondônia (-1.9%).

In the remaining 21 States, figures remained stable, it was also reported. IBGE's Coordinator of Work and Income Adriana Beringuy said that in the annual comparison, there was a significant drop in the vacancy rate in all States, falling 3.9 percentage points from 12.6% in the same quarter of 2021.

“In the second quarter, the vacancy rate had fallen by 1.8 percentage points, with a spread of the drop across 22 units of the Federation. In the third quarter, the drop was less intense, of 0.6 percentage point, and this had repercussions in the local results, by state,” IBGE said.

The lowest unemployment rates in the third quarter were seen in Rondônia (3.9%), Mato Grosso (3.8%), and Santa Catarina (3.8%). By region, the South has the lowest unemployment, at 5.2%, with the three states with percentages below the national average.

The informality rate was 39.4% in the third quarter. The highest percentages were recorded in Pará (60.5%), Maranhão (59.1%), and Amazonas (57.1%). The lowest informal work in the period was observed in Santa Catarina (25.9%), in the Federal District (29.8%), and in São Paulo (30.6%).

Self-employed workers amounted to 25.9% in the quarter, with the highest percentages in Rondônia (37.4%), Amapá (34.7%), and Amazonas (32.4%). The lowest indexes were in Goiás (23.2%), Mato Grosso do Sul (22.0%), and the Federal District (21.1%).

According to the IBGE, in the third quarter, only 25.3% of household workers had a signed contract.

The IBGE also pointed out that around 2.6 million people had been looking for a job for two years or more, which is equivalent to 27.2% of the unemployed. Another 44.5% were from one month to less than a year looking for work and 11.7% had been looking from one year to less than two years. Some 16.6% had been looking for a job for less than a month.

The composite labor force underutilization rate was 20.1%, with the highest rates in Piauí (40.6%), Sergipe (36.1%), and Bahia (33.7%). The lowest underutilization rates were in Santa

Catarina (6.8%), Rondônia (9.1%), and Mato Grosso (10.5%).

In the third quarter of 2022, unemployment hit 4.3 million people - 3.8% of the labor force. Alagoas (17.3%) and Piauí (13.3%) had the highest percentages of joblessness.

Beringuy also pointed out that the vacancy rate for men was 6.9%, below the national rate of 8.7%, while the rate among women stood at 11.0%. “The unemployment rate fell among both men and women, but the gap between them has been increasing, with women having a much higher percentage than men.”

In terms of race, the unemployment rate for blacks was 11.1% and for mixed-race 10.0%, above the country's average. The unemployment rate among whites was 6.8%.

By education, the vacancy rate for people with incomplete high school education was 15.3%, higher than for other levels of education. For the incomplete high school level, the rate was 9.1%, more than double the complete high school level (4.1%).

The income analysis showed that the average monthly value received by workers was R$2,737 (US$ 511.18) in the quarter, better than R$2,640 (US$ 493) in the previous quarter and also in the year-on-year comparison: R$2,670 (US$ 499).

(Source: Agencia Brasil)