The unemployment rate in Brazil was 6.6% in the quarter between February and April 2025, remaining stable in relation to the quarter from November 2024 to January 2025 (6.5%) and dropping 1.0 percentage points (p.p.) against the same quarter last year. On the other hand, the contingent of persons employed with a formal contract in the private sector hit a record level (39.6 million), growing 0.8% in relation to the previous quarter and 3.8% against the same quarter a year ago. These data are from the Monthly Continuous PNAD, released today (29) by the IBGE.    

The composite underutilization rate of the workforce - percentage of unemployed persons, time-related underemployed persons and persons in the potential workforce in relation to the extended workforce - stayed at 15.4%, also a stable figure in the quarterly comparison (15.5%). It dropped 2.0 p.p. in the annual comparison.

Nearly 7.3 million persons were unemployed in Brazil between February and April 2025. This indicator remained stable against the previous moving quarter (November 2024 to January 2025), in which 7.2 million persons were unemployed. In contrast, it retreated 11.5% compared with the same quarter last year, when 8.2 million persons were unemployed, a reduction of 941 thousand unemployed persons in the workforce.

The number of employed persons in the quarter ended in April this year was nearly 103.3 million, remaining stable in relation to the previous quarter. It rose 2.4% (more 2.5 million persons) in the annual comparison, when 100.8 million persons were employed in Brazil. In its turn, the employment-population ratio – percentage of employed persons in the population at working age – hit 58.2%, remaining stable against the quarter between November 2024 and January 2025 (58.2%) Compared with the same quarter a year ago (57.3%), this indicator positively changed 0.9 p.p.          

"The stability in the unemployment and underutilization rates confirms what was pointed out in the first quarter, i.e., a fair capacity of absorbing temporary jobs created in the last quarter of 2024," explains William Kratochwill, an analyst of the survey.

Informality rate falls to 37.9% and formal contracts in the private sector hit a record 

The informality rate (proportion of informal workers in the employed population) was 37.9%, the equivalent to 39.2 million informal workers. This index was lower than that recorded in the previous moving quarter (38.3%), as in the same quarter of 2024 (38.7%). The drop in the informality is a consequence of the stability in the contingent of workers without a formal contract (13.7 million), coupled with the stability in the number of self-employed workers (26.0 million) in the quarterly comparison and an increase of 2.1% in the annual comparison. It is worth highlighting that the contingent of persons employed with a formal contract in the private sector was a record: 39.6 million, an increase of 0.8% against the previous moving quarter and of 3.8% in the comparison with the same quarter last year.

"The labor market has been showing lower levels of underutilization of the population at working age, thus leveraging formal hirings, since a more qualified workforce requires better working conditions," notes Kratochwill.  

Public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services was the only group in which employment increased

Of the ten activity groups investigated in the Continuous PNAD, only Public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services grew in terms of employment against the previous moving quarter (November 2024 to January 2025). The other groups did not change significantly.

The survey´s analyst reminds that "this group has a peculiar characteristic in this quarter, as it is the beginning of the school year. Consequently, a support structure is required by hiring teachers, assistants, caregivers, cooks and receptionists."

In relation to the quarter from February to April 2024, five groups increased their contingent of workers: General industry (3.6% or more 471 thousand persons), Trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (3.7% or more 696 thousand persons), Transportation, storage and mailing (4.5% or more 257 thousand persons), Information, communication and financial, real estate, professional and administrative activities (3.4% or more 435 thousand persons) and Public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services (4.0% or more 731 thousand persons). Conversely, the group of Agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishery and aquaculture (4.3% or less 348 thousand persons) reduced.   

Wage bill of workers was also a record

The usual real earnings from all jobs reached R$3,426 in the quarter between February and April 2025, a stable result, and grew 3.2% when compared with the same quarter a year ago. On the other hand, the usual real wage bill (sum of compensations of all workers) reached R$349.4 billion, a new record, remaining stable in the quarter and increasing 5.9% (more R$19.5 billion) in the year. 

According to William Kratochwill, “the wage bill hit such peak due to the stability in the employment- population ratio, as well as to punctual increases in the employed population with a formal contract in the private and public sectors."   

More about the survey 

The Continuous PNAD is the major survey on workforce in Brazil. Its sample includes 211 thousand households, spread along 3.500 municipalities, which are visited every quarter. Nearly two thousand interviewers work in the survey, integrated with more than 500 IBGE branches in the entire country. 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the IBGE implemented data collection by telephone on March 17, 2020. In July 2021, the data collection became face-to-face once again. 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 PNAD data on Sidra. The next release of the Monthly Continuous PNAD, related to the quarter ended in May, will be on June 27.