PNAD Contínua Mensal
Unemployment remains stable and employment with and without a formal contract breaks records
May 29, 2024 09h00 AM | Last Updated: May 29, 2024 06h38 PM
In the moving quarter ended in April 2024, the unemployment rate was 7.5%, with no statistically significant change compared to the quarter ending in January 2024, when this percentage was 7.6%, and below the 8.5% registered in the same moving quarter of 2023. This is what the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD) released today by the IBGE shows. This was the lowest unemployment rate for a quarter ending in April since 2014, when the indicator was 7.2%.
For Adriana Beringuy, IBGE Coordinator of Household, “the annual analysis is favorable in relation to the unemployment level which, in the quarter ended in April 2024, remains the lowest for this moving quarter, since April 2014. This reveals the maintenance of the downward trend of this indicator, which has been observed since 2023”.
The unemployed population, that is, those who did not work and were looking for a job, stood at 8.2 million, without significant change in the quarterly comparison, but with a reduction of 9.7% (882 thousand less unemployed) compared to the same moving quarter of 2023.
According to Ms. Beringuy, “the stabilization of unemployment is mainly due to the reduction in trade losses, which we observed in the first quarter, and the return of employment in the segment of public basic education in primary education”.
The Continuous PNAD also shows that the employed population reached 100.8 million. Even without significant change in the quarter, this contingent grew 2.8% in the annual comparison, which is equivalent to 2.8 million more jobs compared to the same moving quarter of 2023. As a result, the number of workers with a formal contract reached 38.188 million, a record in the survey's time series, which began in 2012. Likewise, the number of workers without a labor contract was also a record, reaching 13.5 million.
For the household survey coordinator, “The expansion of employment, in recent quarters, has been occurring through employees, who have surpassed other forms of insertion, such as self-employed workers and employers. The group of employees in the private sector, with or without a formal contract, is the one contributing the most to the growth of the employed population in the country”.
Wage bill breaks new record
The average real earnings of employed persons in the quarter ended in April was R$3,151, with no significant change in the quarter and an increase of 4.7% in the annual comparison. As a result, the wage bill, which is the sum of the wages of all workers in the country, reached R$ 313.1 billion, a new record in the time series, showing stability in the quarter and rising 7.9% compared to the same period 2023.
According to the IBGE analyst, in the quarter ended in April “the wage bill remained at a high level, either because there was a positive change in the employed population in some segments, or due to the maintenance of the average income value. With a highlight, in this specific quarter, to the increase in the earnings of employees in the private sector with a formal contract”.
In the quarterly comparison, earnings were stable in all the ten groups of activity investigated by the Continuous PNAD. Compared to the same moving quarter of 2023, there were increases in the earnings of workers in four groups: General industry (8.5%), Vehicle trade and repair (4.6%), Transportation, storage and mailing (5.7%) and Public Administration (4.0%).
More about the survey
The Continuous PNAD is the main instrument for monitoring the workforce in the country. The survey sample per quarter in Brazil corresponds to 211 thousand households surveyed. Around two thousand interviewers work on the survey, in 26 states and the Federal District, integrated into the collection network of more than 500 IBGE agencies.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the IBGE implemented the collection of survey information by telephone from March 17, 2020. In July 2021, in-person collection was resumed. It is possible to confirm the identity of the interviewer on the website Respondendo ao IBGE or by calling 0800 721 8181(Call Center) to check the interviewer's registration number, ID or CPF, data which can be requested by the respondent.
You can consult PNAD data in Sidra. The next release of the Continuous Monthly PNAD, for the quarter ending in May, will be on June 28th.
