After two drops, unemployment rate remains stable in January
February 28, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: February 28, 2018 12h56 PM
After falling for two quarters, the unemployment rate remained at 12.2% in the period from November 2017 to January 2018, according to the Continuous National Household Sample Survey - PNAD-C, released today by the IBGE. This indicator was also 0.4 percentage points lower than that registered in the same period a year ago, when it stayed at 12.6%.
The rate hit 13.6% in the February-April quarter, but it has been dropping since then: May-July (12.8%) and August-October (12.2%).
"The index was falling, but now it remained stable, interrupting two drops. It is a typical movement for January, when this indicator tends to stabilize or even rise", explains Cimar Azeredo, IBGE´s coordinator of Labor and Income.
Informality remains high
In spite of the drop in the unemployment rate compared with the same quarter last year, the number of employees with a formal contract remains low (-1.7%). This group was the only one to fall in this period, whereas employees without a formal contract (5.6%) and self-employed workers (4.4%) sustained the growth of the employed population, which increased by 1.8 million persons (2.1%).
"The market can´t leverage the creation of job positions of quality, due to the economic downturn. The insertion of 1.8 million persons is based on informal labor", concludes Cimar.
