Fewer than half of working-age Brazilians are employed: IBGE

Brazil’s employment rate closed out the three-month period ended in April at 48.5 percent. In other words, less than half of the population at working age is employed in the country. The lowest level was identified in the quarter ended in July 2020 (47.1%).

The data can be found in the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD), released today (Jun. 30) by the government’s statistics agency IBGE. The unemployment rate stands at 14.7 percent—14.8 million people seeking a job in Brazil.

According to research analyst Adriana Beringuy, compared to the three-month period ended in April 2020, when the study observed the first effects of the pandemic, the labor market still faces losses in employment, but the reduction is taking place at a slower pace.

“We still report major losses in the employed population, 3.7 percent, but we’ve seen higher percentages—12 percent, at the peak of the pandemic. We’re reporting, therefore, a reduction in the pace of losses every quarter. In the general count, however, we have fewer than 3.3 million people working since the beginning of the pandemic,” she pointed out.