Unemployment reaches the lowest level in eight years in April

The data were calculated by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) based on the quarterly series of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD), by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Improvements in some variables linked to earnings, underemployment and discouragement confirm this more optimistic scenario for the labor market.

In April, compared to the previous month, the employed population recorded the fourth consecutive expansion, with approximately 99.2 million people. “Additionally, while the formal occupation registered an average interannual growth of 3.2% in the last quarter, ending in April, the informal employed population presented a retraction of 0.6%, on the same basis of comparison”, says Ipea.

According to the analysis, the sectorial cut shows that the growth of occupation has occurred in a generalized way, but with different intensity. In the last 12 months, ending in April, all sectors had job creation, especially commerce (376.2 thousand), administrative services (264.5 thousand), manufacturing industry (204.9 thousand) and civil construction (191.6 thousand). In April, the contingent of 107.9 million people belonging to the labor force was 0.8% lower than that observed in the same period of the previous year.

According to the study, in the last 12 months the discouraged population recorded a drop of 15.8%. The numbers dropped from 4.3 million in April last year to 3.5 million in April this year. In addition to the drop in the number of discouraged people, a decline was observed in the number of individuals who are out of the workforce due to study, domestic obligations, health problems, among other reasons, who do not wish to return to activity, even in the face of a job offer.

“A possible explanation is the improvement in the labor market, which may be generating a smaller need to compensate for job losses and/or household income, allowing other members of the household to dedicate themselves exclusively to other activities”, says Ipea.