Leading Employment Indicator in Brazil reaches the highest level since October

Economics professor at the University of Brasília (UnB), Roberto Piscitelli explains that despite the IAEmp showing an improvement for the second consecutive month, the country has already reached higher levels.

“The leading employment indicator is showing an improvement for the second consecutive month, so it is not at the highest levels or previous levels already reached, but this brings some encouragement, because we must take into account that the moment is still one of many uncertainties of definitions of the government transition itself”, explained the professor.

In March, 4 of the 7 components of the IAEmp contributed positively to the result of the indicator. These being: the Business Trend and Expected Industry Employment indicators, which contributed with 1.4 and 1.0 points. On the negative side, the worst results were the indicator of Predicted Employment in Services, which fell by 0.7 points, and the indicator of Current Business Situation in Industry, which fell by 0.5 points.

For economist Alexandre Arci, the job market is still looking very cautiously at jobs, since January and February saw a drop in hiring.

“The market is still looking at this increase very cautiously, it could just be an accommodation due to the low that occurred in January and February. A high interest rate automatically brings about an economic slowdown where the entrepreneur often has weaknesses in seeking money from third parties or in other ways to invest in his business, causing employment to not take off,” said Arci.

In addition, Arci explains that it is a time of great attention for entrepreneurs, as the country is still struggling to reorganize itself economically in this post-pandemic period.

“As soon as entrepreneurs are clear about how the whole economy will be conducted, we believe that employability or new jobs will happen in a normal and natural way”, concluded the economist.

Recent data from the IBGE showed that the unemployment rate fell to 8.9% in the three months up to August in Brazil, amid a record contingent of employed persons, reaching the lowest level in seven years.