Economy

Informality rate in Brazil labor market rises to 40%

Of the 86.7 million employed people, 34.7 million worked informally

Vitor Abdala

Published on 30/07/2021 - 15:02

Rio de Janeiro

Comércio de rua durante a pandamia do novo coronavírus — © Ricardo Wolffenbuttel / SECOM

The informality rate in Brazil’s labor market went up to 40 percent of the employed population in the quarter ending in May 2021. The figure was disclosed today (Jul. 30) by the government’s statistics agency IBGE.

Of the 86.7 million employed people in Brazil, 34.7 million were reported to be workers with no formal registration at all, people working autonomously with no registration as firm, and people who work helping their families.

The informality rate in May is higher than the 39.6 percent in the previous quarter (ending in February this year) and the 37.6 percent in the quarter ending in May 2020.

Underutilization

The total group of underutilized people—the unemployed, those working less than they could, and those who could work but do not seek employment—added up to 32.9 million people, steady from February this year, but 8.5 percent higher than May 2020 (another 2.6 million people).

The underutilization rate stood at 29.3 percent in May this year, steady if compared to February this year and higher than the 27.5 percent seen in May 2020.

Those underemployed due to insufficient hours of work (7.36 million people) set a new record in the time series initiated in 2012, up 6.8 percent (another 469 thousand people) from February this year and 27.2 percent (another 1.6 million people) compared to May 2020.