Continuous PNAD
Unemployment drops in eight Federation Units in Q2
August 15, 2023 09h00 AM | Last Updated: August 18, 2023 02h58 AM
In the second quarter, the decrease of the unemployment rate in the country took place in only eight Federation Units, whereas the remaining ones were stable. Against the first quarter in the year, the index in the country dropped by 0.8 percentage points, and reached 8.0%. There were drops in four Major Regions, except for the South, which was also stable. These data come from the quarterly result of the Constinuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD), released today (15) by the IBGE.
“A trend to decrease is observed from the first to the second quarter in all the Federation Units, but the decrease was statistically significant in only eight of them. The decrease in unemployment un this quarter can also mean a seasonal pattern. After an increase in the first quarter, to some extent, of the search for work by persons fired in the beginning of the year, in the second quarter, the search tends to decrease,” says the Labor and Income coordinator, Adriana Beringuy.
The Federation Units with biggest decreases in unemployment rate were the Federal District, with a change from 12.0% to 8.7% and Rio Grande do Norte, with a change from 12.1% to 10.2%. The remaining ones were São Paulo, Ceará, Minas Gerais, Maranhão, Pará and Mato Grosso.
Despite the decrease in unemployment (-0.9 p.p.), the Northeast (11.3%) still holds the highest percentage among the Major Regions. All the states in the Northeast have rates above the national average. Pernambuco has the highest index in the country, with 14.2%, followed by Bahia (13.4%). Both were stable against the three previous months. On the other hand, the lowest rates were registered by Rondônia (2.4%), Mato Grosso (3.0%) and Santa Catarina (3.5%).
In São Paulo, the most populous state in the country and the one with the biggest number of employed persons (23.9 million), the unemployment rate changed from 8.5%, in the first quarter of the year, to 7.8%, in the second. I this period, there was a decrease of 7.6% in the number of persons searching for work, reaching 2.0 million. The nummber of employed persons was stable.
Sixteen states registered informality rates above the national average (39.2%): all of them located in the North and Northeast As for this indicator, the highest percentages came from Pará (58.7%), Maranhão (57.0%) and Amazonas (56.8%). The lowest ones were recorded by Santa Catarina (26.6%), Federal District (31.2%) and São Paulo (31.6%).
According to the coordinator, the difference in informality rates results, among other factors, from the economic sectors that prevail in each Major Region. “In the North and Northeast there is a strong presence of activities that includes workers without a formal contract and self-employed workers without a CNPJ number, such as those in trade and services,” says Ms. Beringuy. She also highlights that in the South, the Major Region with lowest informality rate (30.8%), the bigger weight of industrial activity and the diversity of services contribute to the employment of workers with a formal contract.
In Q2 2023, 73.3% of the workers in the private sector in Brazil had a formal employment contract. The lowest percentages were found in the Nordeste (59.1%) and in the North (58.4%), mainly in Maranhão (49.3%), Pará (51.5%) and Tocantins (53.5%). The proportion was significantly lower in terms of domestic work: only 25.5% had a formal employment contract in the country. In the Southeast, Major Region with the biggest number of domestic workers (2.7 million), almost 70% were informal workers.
In Q2, the percentage of self-employed persons was 25.5%. The biggest concentrations were found in Rondônia (37.8%), Amazonas (32.3%) and Amapá (31.7%), whereas the lowest ones were in the Federal District (19.9%), Tocantins (20.7%) and Goiás (21.7%).
Unemployment drops among men and women
The difference in the unemployment rate between men and women was smaller in the second quarter. It was estimated at 6.9% among men and 9.6% among women. “This difference fell because, although the two groups had faced a reduction in unemployment rate, the drop among women was 1.3 percentage points, above that among men (-0.3 p.p.),” Ms. Beringuy states. She highlights taht they recorded a bigger increase in employment population ratio: 0.6 p.p. versus 0.4 p.p. among men. As a result, the employment population ratio of women reached 47.1%, whereas that of men was 66,8. This indicator calculated the percentage of employed persons at working age.
Considering the unemployment rate by color or race, persons who declared to be white (6.8%) were below the national average, whereas black ones (11.3%) and brown ones (10.1%) were above. No início da série histórica da pesquisa, no primeiro trimestre de 2012, a média também foi estimada em 8,0% e havia a seguinte situação: pretos tinham taxa de desocupação de 9,7%, pardos, de 9,2% e brancos, de 6,7%.
Two million persons had been searching for work for two years and more
By Q2 2023, abou two million persons had been looking for a job for two years and more. Against the same period a year ago, this figure dropped by 31.7%, which represents a decrease by 945 thousand persons. About 4.0 million persons had been searching for work for between one month and less than a year Against the second quarter last year, the decrease reached 5.5%, or 237 thousand persons.
Earnings increase in the North; four Major Regions are stable
The average usual earnings in the country hit R$ 2,921 in the second quarter. There were increases against the previous quarter (R$ 2,923) and from the same period a year ago (R$ 2,750). Against the quarter January-March, the North (R$ 2,316) was the only Major Region with increase in this indicator, whereas the other ones were stable. In the interannual comparison, earnings grew in all the Major Regions.
More about the survey
The Continuous PNAD is the main instrument to monitor workforce in Brazil. The survey sample per quarter corresponds to 211 thousand households surveyed in Brazil. Nearly two thousand interviewers work in the survey in 26 states and in the Federal District, integrated to the data collection network of more than 500 IBGE branches. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the IBGE implemented data collection by telephone on March 17, 2020. In July 2021, face-to-face data collection was resumed. The identity of the interviewers can be confirmed at the Answering the IBGE website or through the Call Center (0800 7218181), and their ID numbers can be requested by the informants. See data about the survey at Sidra and at the Interactive panel. The next release of Quarterly PNAD is scheduled for November 22.
