Unemployment drops to 8.3% in the quarter ended in May, says IBGE

The unemployment rate was 8.3% in the quarter ended in May, with a decrease of 0.3 percentage points (pp) compared to the previous quarter, from December 2022 to February 2023. It is the lowest rate for a quarter ended in May since 2015, when it also stood at 8.3%. Compared to the same period in 2022, the unemployment rate dropped by 1.5 pp

The data are from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD), released today (30) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

“This decrease in the quarter was more influenced by the drop in the number of people looking for work than by a significant increase in workers. It was the lower pressure on the job market that caused the reduction in the unemployment rate”, said, in a note, Adriana Beringuy, coordinator of Surveys by Household Sample.

The unemployed population stood at 8.9 million people, down 3% compared to the previous quarter and -15.9% compared to the same period in 2022. The number of employed persons, at 98.4 million, remained stable in the quarterly comparison and grew 0.9% in the year.

“Although there was no significant expansion in the total employed population in the quarter, there were some specific differences in some economic activities. The majority remained stable, but a decline was observed in the number of workers in agriculture, livestock, forest production, fishing and aquaculture (-1.9%, or less 158 thousand people) and expansion in public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services (2.5%, or more 429 thousand people)”, said Adriana.

“In the case of the public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services group, growth was driven by the education segment and through the insertion of employees without a formal contract”, added the coordinator.

According to the IBGE, in the annual panorama, there were increases in the sectors of transport, storage and mail (4.2%, or more 216 thousand people), information, communication and financial, real estate, professional and administrative activities (3.8%, or 440,000 more people) and public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services (4.5%, or 764,000 more people) and reductions in the groups of agriculture, livestock, forest production, fishing and aquaculture ( -6.2%, or less 542 thousand people) and Construction (-3.7%, or less 274 thousand people).

Article amended for correction in title, at 11:10 am. Unemployment retreated TO 8.3% and not 8.3% as initially published.