Brazilian employed population tops 100 million for the first time

Brazil’s job market remains resilient despite recent signs that the country’s economy has slowed down in Q3. New data shows that the unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percentage points in the previous quarter to 7.6 percent. 

The number of employed individuals rose to 100.2 million in October, more than ever recorded. Compared to a year earlier, 545,000 more workers found a job.

Meanwhile, the number of discouraged workers — those who have given up on finding a job — sat at 3.4 million in October, the lowest since August 2016. The unemployed population also dropped, by 3.1 percent, to 8.3 million people.

According to Adriana Beringuy, research coordinator at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), most of the growth in employment came from workers who secured formal contracts in the private sector, rather than informal jobs. The number of employees in the private sector with a formal work contract (excluding domestic workers) reached 37.4 million, the largest number since June 2014.

On top of that, average wages went up by 1.7 percent quarter-on-quarter (and 3.9 percent annually) to BRL 2,999 (approximately USD 613). 

For economist and independent consultant André Perfeito, the IBGE data provides a counterpoint to other economic activity indicators released recently, as the repeated increase in the wage bill reinforces the prospect of economic growth. “It’s about having more money on the table … which may be used for two things: consumption and deleveraging for families that fell heavily into debt during the pandemic.”

Whatever the fate of the extra money in workers’ pockets, it points to an “irrigation of the economic fabric, which will also benefit from the continued fall in the benchmark interest rate in the coming months,” adds Mr. Perfeito.

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