Informality increases, continues to reduce unemployment
October 31, 2017 09h00 AM | Last Updated: October 31, 2017 01h20 PM
Of the 91.3 million employed persons in the quarter ended in September, 22.9 million persons were self-employed and 10.9 million were employed in the private sector without a formal contract, a rise of 1.8% and 2.7%, respectively, over the immediately previous quarter.
These data came from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey - PNADC, released today by the IBGE, which pointed out an unemployment rate of 12.4% in the Jul-Aug-Sep quarter, a drop of 0.6 percentage points over the immediately previous quarter. In this same comparison period, the average real earnings was R$2.1 thousand. 
When taking into account the same quarter in 2016, the increase of 1.1 million self-employed persons and of 641 thousand job positions without a formal contract are some of the aspects that show the advance of informality in Brazil.
According to Cimar Azeredo, coordinator of Labor and Income at the IBGE, the reduction of formal jobs confirms the worsening of the labor market conditions over the last three years: "Compared with the same period in 2014, Brazil lost 3.4 million jobs with a formal contract", stresses him.
This scenario can also be seen in the housing and food category, which includes, among others, persons cooking at home to sell in an informal way. It registered an increase of about 175 thousand persons, a growth of 3.4% over the immediately previous quarter.
Earnings of employed population also increase
The reduction in the unemployment level was followed by an increase of 1.4% in the real wage bill (R$188.1 billion), which is the total income of the employed population against the April-May-June quarter. The increase was of 3.9% compared with the same period in 2016.
According to Cimar, this figure is particularly positive, as it really means more employed persons and better paid: “It is important to highlight this information, as jobs may rise and income fall”, concluded him.
Text: Pedro Renaux
Image: Wikimedia
Artwork: Helga Szpiz and Valberto Cabral
