Brazil’s unemployment rate 14.6% in quarter ending in May

Brazil’s unemployment rate stood at 14.6 percent in the quarter ending in May this year, according to data released today (Jul. 30) by the government’s statistics agency IBGE. The rate remains steady if compared to the quarter immediately prior (ending in February this year): 14.4 percent.

An increase was reported, however, in the comparison with the quarter finished in May 2020, when the index was 12.9 percent, as per data from the Continuous PNAD (National Household Sample Survey).

The jobless population in the quarter ending in May this year reached 14.8 million—in other words, steady against the previous quarter, but up 16.4 percent if compared to the quarter ending in May last year (another 2.1 million unemployed).

The employed population (86.7 million people) grew 0.9 percent from the previous quarter (another 809 thousand people employed) and was steady from the quarter ending in May 2020.