PNAD Contínua Mensal
With a rate of 5.8%, unemployment increases in quarter ending in April
May 28, 2026 09h00 AM | Last Updated: July 11, 2026 05h10 PM
The unemployment in Brazil increased again, and reached 5.8% in the quarter ending April. That mwans 6.3 million pesons sought work in vain in the quarter, 471 thousand more than in the quarter ending in January. The underutilization rate and the percentage of discouraged persons showed stability and the informality rate dropped, in the same comparison. The average real earnings from all the activities stood at R$ 3,732. Data can be found in the Monthly Continuous PNAD, released today (28) by the IBGE.
“The rise of unemployment in this moving quarter results mainly from the seasonal behavior of some activities, such as trade and personal services, which, after the upturn in the end of 2025, has not kept a share of the workers,” Adriana Beringuy, coordinator of IBGE’s Household Sample Surveys, explained.
Employment population ratio was 58.4% in April
In the quarter ending in March, the employed population (102.3 million) recorded a drop of 0.3% (338 thousand persons) and an increase of 1.1% from the same quarter a year ago (1.07 million persons). The employment population ratio, which measures the percentage of employed persons at working age, was estimated at 58.4% in April 2026. That represents a drop of -0.3 percentage points against the quarter Nov 2025-Jan 2026 (58.7%).
“Despite reduction in employment in the quarterly comparison, employment remains high in the labor market in the comparison with previous years in the time series,” says Adriana Beringuy. “That means even considering the seasonal drop, the Generation of work and labor remains.”
In the quarter, there was a reduction in the number of job posts in the group Other services (minus 162 thousand persons). In the other groups, there was stability.
There was also stability in all employment positions against the previous quarter. Among workers in the private sector, 39.3 million had a formal employment contract (including domestic workers) and 13.3 million did not have a formal contract. Among domestic workers, 1.3 million had a formal employment contract and 4.1 million did not have a contract. There were also 26.0 million self-employed workers, 4.2 million workers, 12.9 million workers in the public sector.
Underutilization and discouragement remain stable; informality drops
The composite underutilization rate of workforce (percentage of unemployed persons, time-related underemployed and in the potential workforce in relation to the extended workforce) was estimated at 13.8%, remaining stable in the quarter and representing 15.7 million persons. Against the same quarter a year ago, the underutilization rate was estimated at 15.4% (-1.7 percentage points), and the number of persons dropped 11.1% (2 million persons).
Also in comparison with the previous quarter, the discouraged population recorded stability, with 2.6 million discouraged persons. Against the same quarter, in 2025, there was a significant reduction of 15.3%, by 464 thousand persons. The percentage of discouraged persons (2.3%) also showed stability in quarter with a drop of 0.4 p.p. in the year (2.7%).
Já a taxa de informalidade caiu de 37,5% (ou 38,5 milhões de trabalhadores informais), no trimestre encerrado em janeiro, para de 37,2% (ou 38,1 milhões). No trimestre de fevereiro a abril de 2025, a taxa de informalidade era de 38%, representando 38,5 milhões na informalidade. Também foi registrado recuo de população subocupada por insuficiência de horas (4,2 milhões), uma queda de 5,5% no trimestre (menos 246 mil pessoas) e queda de 7,3% no ano (menos 336 mil pessoas).
More about Continuous PNAD
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 this survey in more than 500 IBGE branches.
The id of the interviewers can be confirmed at the Answering the IBGE website or through the Call Center (0800 7218181) by checking their ID numbers, which can be requested by the informants.
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 id of the interviewers can be confirmed at the Answering the IBGE website or through the Call Center (0800 7218181) by checking their ID numbers, which can be requested by the informants.
See PNAD data at Sidra. Its next release, relative to the quarter ending in March, will be on June 26.
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