Unemployment rate rises 8.6% in February

In the comparison between December 2021 and February 2022, there was a decrease of 2.6 percentage points (pp), compared to the rate of 11.2%.

Economist Guidi Nunes explains that it is normal to have an increase in the unemployment rate in February, since between the final months of each year, there is the possibility of temporary hiring that comes to an end at the beginning of January.

“Between December and January, unemployment tends to increase due to the end of temporary hiring that takes place between 11/20 and 12/31, and in this case when comparing January 2023 with January 2022, when this reduction in the rate took place. of unemployment, due to the improvement in the service sector in the post-pandemic”, explained Nunes

Until February of this year, around 9.2 million people became unemployed (5.5% or 483 thousand people) more than in November 2022 and 23.2% less in the annual comparison.

The employed population decreased by 1.6% in relation to November, but grew by 3% up to February last year. The percentage of employed people of working age was 56.3%. Lower than in November (57.4%) but higher than February 2022 (55.2%).

For Economist Cesar Lima, despite not being such an expressive increase, it already means a lot for the economy and mainly for the states and municipalities of the country.

“This increase in the level of employment mainly reflects, in addition to the well-being of the population, in public accounts. You have greater collection, greater consumption, and this is also reflected in the municipalities, which depend on this income tax collection, on the IPI generated by this increase in the level of employment and which also increases the income tax collection and therefore the increase in the transfer of the RPM to the municipalities and FPE to the states as well”, said Lima.

For the economist, these numbers have a negative impact on the economy. And it needs to undergo maintenance.

“The impact of unemployment on the economy is that it increases idleness. A person stopped is a waste for the economy, and the trend for the coming months is a tendency to maintain unemployment in the range of 8% in view of the Brazilian growth estimate with a rate of 1% for 2023”, said Guidi Numes.

The usual real income was stable compared to the previous quarter (R$2,853) and grew 7.5% during the year. The mass of usual real income (R$275.5 billion) was also stable compared to November, but grew 11.4% compared to February 2022.

Regarding informal work, the population employed in informality stood at 38.9%, the same as in November, but lower than February 2022 (40.2%).

The number of formal workers, with the exception of domestic workers, remained stable and grew 6.4% compared to February last year. The number of employees without a formal contract fell by 2.6% in November and rose by 5.5% compared to February 2022.

Among self-employed workers, the reduction was 1.2% in November, while the index was stable in February.

The underutilized population, that is, those who could work more than they do, reached 21.6 million in November, but 20.7% below that observed in February 2022. The underutilization rate remained stable in relation to November (18 .8%) and fell 4.7 percentage points compared to February 2022.

The discouraged population, those who would like to work and were available but did not look for work, reached 4 million people, stable in relation to November and 16% less than in February 2022.

The percentage of discouraged workers in the workforce was also stable (3.65%) compared to November and fell by 0.7 percentage points (pp) compared to February 2022.