Rate is the lowest for a quarter ending in October since 2014, IBGE says

12/01/2022

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Result was below the July quarter, of 9.1% — Foto: Marcelo Camargo/ABr

The unemployment rate in Brazil was 8.3% in the October quarter. The result was below the previous quarter, which ended in July (9.1%), and also below the result of the same period in 2021 (12.1%), the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad) Continuous released on Wednesday by the statistics agency IBGE shows. It is the lowest result for a quarter ending in October since 2014 (6.7%).

The result was below the median expectations of 24 consultants and financial institutions consulted by Valor, which pointed to a rate of 8.5% in the quarter ending in October 2022. The figure was also below the floor of the projections, which ranged from 8.4% to 8.7%. In the September quarter, the rate was 8.7%.

The number of workers without a formal contract in the private sector reached a new record: 13.4 million people, with an increase of 2.3% compared to the immediately preceding quarter and 11.8% compared to the same quarter of 2021 (1.4 million more workers).

According to the coordinator of Work and Income of IBGE, Adriana Beringuy, the drop in the unemployment rate is the result of the combination of the continued downward trend observed since mid-2021 and seasonal factors, since the labor market typically improves at the end of the year.

The trajectory of market recovery started in July 2021, recalls Ms. Beringuy, is linked to the progress of the vaccination against Covid-19, and also to the resumption of face-to-face activities, such as services.

The election may also have helped the labor market in the period, according to her, because there was an increase in the number of workers in segments such as other services and information, communication and financial, real estate, professional and administrative activities, which may include people involved in the electoral campaign.

“People who work in electoral campaigns can appear in the other services segment (within associative services, if hired by parties to distribute flyers and propaganda, for example) and also in the information and communication segment — if outsourced,” she said.

Ms. Beringuy clarified that although it is not possible to specifically measure the number of workers in these groups who are involved in election-related activities, it is clear that there has been an increase in the number of people employed in those segments.

The number of workers employed in information, communication, financial, real estate, professional and administrative activities grew 2.8% in the October quarter, compared with the immediately preceding quarter (324,000 more people). The number of people employed in other services, on the other hand, advanced by 4.5% (232,000 people). In the labor market average, the increase was lower, at 1%.

In the three months through October, the country had 9 million unemployed — people aged 14 or more who looked for a job but could not find one. The number indicates a contraction of 8.7% compared with the previous quarter, which ended in July (860,000 fewer people), and a drop of 30.1% compared with the same period in 2021 (3.9 million fewer people). It is the lowest number of unemployed people since the quarter ended in July 2015.

Between August and October, the employed population (employees, employers, civil servants) rose to 99.7 million people, a new record since records began, in 2012. This represents an increase of 1% compared to the period between May and July (1 million more people employed). Compared to the same quarter in 2021, it rose 6.1% (5.7 million people).

The labor force — that is, people aged 14 and older who are employed or looking for a job — was 108.7 million in the October moving quarter, a statistically stable level compared with the previous moving quarter ended in July and up 1.7% compared with the same period last year (1.8 million more people).

*By Lucianne Carneiro — Rio Janeiro

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/