Brazil: Fear of unemployment down, life satisfaction up

The Brazilian population is more satisfied and less scared of unemployment. The information can be found in a survey released Thursday (Oct 3) by the National Industry Confederation (CNI).

After two consecutive rises, Brazil’s fear of employment rate slipped by 1.1 points from June and stood at 58.2 points in September. This brings the indicator 7.5 points below September last year.

Nonetheless, fear of employment is still above the historical average of 50.1 points. The indicator ranges from zero to a hundred. The higher the value is, the greater the fear of unemployment is.

The sharpest reduction in fear of unemployment was observed among people with lower education and income. Among those who finished fourth great of elementary school only, the indicator dropped 5.4 points and went from 64.1 in June to 59.7 in September. Among those earning up to the minimum wage, fear of unemployment slid back four points, from 72.8 in June to 68.8 in September.

Fear of unemployment is highest among people living in the Northeast, where it reached 69.7 points. It was the only region to see an increase in fear of unemployment in September. The lowest is the South, where the rate was reported at 47.7 points. In the Southeast, the figure was 58.5 points, and, in the North/Central-West, 49.3 points.

Satisfaction

The survey also shows the degree Brazilians’ life satisfaction, which reached 69 points in September, up 1.6 from July. The indicator—3.1 points higher than September last year—is also below the 69.6 point historical average.

Life satisfaction rose in all regions. It is highest in the South, where it was reported at 71 points. The Northeast was 58.1, and the Southeast 68.8. For the North/Central-West, the indicator was 68.6 points.

This installment of the quarterly survey heard 2 thousand people across 126 municipalities from September 19 through 22.