Monthy Continuous PNAD
Unemployment drops again and employment hits a record in private and public sectors
August 30, 2024 09h00 AM | Last Updated: August 31, 2024 11h25 PM
In the May-July quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate fell to 6.8%, with a drop of 0.7 percentage points (p.p.) from the Feb-Apr quarter (7.5%) and a decrease of 1.1 p.p. against the same moving quarter in 2023 (7.9%). That was the lowest rate for a quarter ending in July in the time series of the IBGEs Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), which started in 2012. The unemployed population fell to 7.4 million, the smallest number of persons searching for work in the country since January 2015.
According to the IBGE’s coordinator of household sample surveys, Adriana Beringuy, “the quarter ended July keeps the favorable market results observed in the year so far, with decrease of unemployment and continuous expansion of the number of workers”.
The total number of workers hit a new record and reached 102.0 million. According to the IBGE, this total increased by 1.2% (1.2 million persons) in the quarterly comparison and increased by 2.7% (2.7 million persons) in the year. The two main segments of the employed population also hit record figures. The number of employees in the private sector reached 52.5 million, the biggest in the series, with an increase of 1.4% (731 thousand persons) in the quarter and 4.5% (2.2 million persons more) in the year. Workers in the public sector reached 12.7 million, with increases of 3.5% (424 thousand persons) in the quarter and of 3.6% (436 thousand persons) in the year.
In the private sector, the number of workers with a private contract and of persons without a formal contract increased: by 38.5 million and 13.9 million, respectively. Employment in the private sector was boosted by Trade, which increased by 1.9% in the semester, representing a total of 368 new thousand workers in the country, in this comparison. In the year, this group increased by 2.6%. In the Moving quarter ending in July 2024, the number of persons employed in Trade reached 19.3 million, a record in the time series of Continuous PNAD.
According to Adriana Beringuy, “employment with a formal contract represented a significant part of the expansion of employment, which added to the improvement of formality coverage in this activity.”
In the public sector, the record was driven by civil servants with and without a formal contract, who also reached the highest figures in the time series of Continuous PNAD: 1.6 million and 3.3 million, respectively. The number of civil servants without a formal contract increased by 7.4% in the quarterly comparison, which is equivalent to 227 thousand persons in the period. In this year, this group increased by 4.7%, or 149 thousand persons. In turn, the number of civil servants with a formal contract increased by 10.6% (151 thousand persons) in the quarter and 13.6% (190 thousand persons) in the year.
According to the analyst, “employment in the public sector has recorded an increase throughout 2024, mainly among workers in the segment of primary education and in municipal public administration.”
Also in the public sector, the segment of military and statutory civil servants, which passed competitive examinations tests to join state service, remained stable in both comparisons, having remained at 7.8 million, which is below the record for this group (8.4 million), which had been reached in the quarter ending in February 2021.
Earnings remain stable in the quarter and increases 4.8% in the year
In the quarter ending in July, the average real earnings of employed persons was R$ 3,206, with stability against the previous moving quarter and an increase of 4.8% in the annual comparison.
The real wage bill, which is the sum of compensation paid to all Workers, reached R$ 322.4 billion, with increases of 1.9% in the quarter and 7.9% in the annual comparison.
More about the survey
The Continuous PNAD is the main instrument to monitor labor force in Brazil. The survey sample per quarter corresponds to 211 thousand households surveyed in Brazil spread over 3,500 municipalities, which are visited every quarter. 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 PNAD data on Sidra. The next release of the Monthly Continuous PNAD, related to the quarter ending in August, will be on September 27.
