The Continuous PNAD for the quarter of November 2024 to January 2025, released today (27) by the IBGE, showed that the unemployment rate in Brazil reached 6.5%, increasing 0.3 percentage points compared to the quarter from August to October 2024 (6.2%). This is the second positive change in a row, after the lowest unemployment level in the time series recorded in the moving quarter from September to November (6.1%). The labor force underutilization rate (percentage of unemployed persons, time-related underemployed persons and those in the potential workforce in relation to the expanded workforce) was 15.5%, a result considered stable in the quarterly comparison (15.4%).

Approximately 7.2 million persons were unemployed in the country from November 2024 to January 2025. Compared to the previous three-month period (August to October), there was an increase of 5.3%, which corresponds to 364 thousand more unemployed individuals. On the other hand, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, when there were 8.3 million unemployed persons, there was a decrease of 13.1%, a reduction of 1.1 million unemployed persons in the workforce.

The number of employed persons at the end of the quarter ended in January of this year was approximately 103.0 million. This represents a decrease of 0.6%, that is, 641 thousand fewer persons compared to the previous quarter. Compared to the quarter from November 2023 to January 2024, when there were 100.6 million employed persons in Brazil, there was an increase of 2.4% (2.4 million more persons). The employment rate (percentage of persons employed in the working-age population), in turn, reached 58.2%, a reduction of 0.5 percentage points compared to the quarter from August to October 2024 (58.7%). Compared to the same quarter of the previous year (57.3%), this indicator had a positive change of 0.9 pp.

“The unemployment rate for this quarter, of 6.5%, was lower than in 2024 in the same quarter (7.6%), that is, there was a significant improvement. However, the 0.3 percentage point change in relation to the quarter ended in October last year was the highest since 2017 (0.8 pp), equaling 2019. Regarding the stability of the composite rate of labor force underutilization, the result shows that the increase in the number of unemployed was offset by the reduction in the stock of time-related underemployed workers, decreasing by 8.3%”, highlights William Kratochwill, survey analyst.

Informality rate in the quarter was 38.3%

The informality rate (proportion of informal workers in the employed population) was 38.3%, equivalent to 39.5 million informal workers. This rate was lower than that seen both in the previous moving quarter (38.9%) and in the same quarter of 2024 (39.0%). The drop in informality is a consequence of the reduction in the number of workers without a formal employment contract (13.9 million), coupld with the stability of the number of self-employed workers (25.8 million) in the quarterly and annual comparisons. On the other hand, the number of employed persons in the private sector with a formal employment contract (39.3 million) remained stable in the quarterly comparison and grew 3.6% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services drove the employment decline

None of the ten activity groups investigated by the IBGE's Continuous PNAD recorded growth in employment compared to the previous moving quarter (August to October 2024). Two of them showed a reduction: Public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services (2.5%, or 469 thousand fewer persons) and Agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing and aquaculture (2.1%, or 170 thousand fewer persons).

“Data shows that at the beginning of each year there is a movement of layoffs in public administration, health and education, and even with a 2.5% reduction in relation to the previous quarter, this group is 2.9% larger than in the same quarter of the previous year. The number of workers in agriculture also showed a reduction, and although it remained at the same level as the previous year, the volume of work in this group has been decreasing over the years. In this same quarter of 2013, for example, there were 10.1 million workers, and today we have around 7.7 million”, observes Mr. Kratochwill.

In relation to the quarter from November 2023 to January 2024, five groups increased their workforce: General Industry (2.7%, or 355 thousand more persons), Construction (3.3%, or 246 thousand more persons), Trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (3.4%, or 654 thousand more persons), Information, Communication and Financial, Real Estate, Professional and Administrative Activities (2.9%, or 373 thousand more persons) and Public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services (2.9%, or 523 thousand more persons). The others did not have a significant change.

Workers' wage bill remained stable

The usual real earnings from all jobs reached R$3,343 in the quarter from November 2024 to January 2025, an increase of 1.4% compared to the quarter ended in October and 3.7% when compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The usual real wage bill (the sum of the compensation of all workers) reached R$339.5 billion, remaining stable in the quarter and growing 6.2% (more R$19.9 billion) in the year.

According to William Kratochwill, “the movement of the real wage bill can be explained by the change in the volume of employed workers or by the change in wages. In this quarter, the population increased by 2.4% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, an increase of more than 2.0 million employed persons. This growth partly explains the increase in the wage bill by 6.2%, reaching R$339.5 billion. However, when we look at the change in relation to the previous quarter, the employed population decreased by 0.6%, that is, there were 641 thousand fewer employed workers and, even so, the wage bill remained statistically stable”.

More about the survey

The Continuous PNAD is the main survey on the workforce in Brazil. Its sample covers 211 thousand households, spread across 3,500 municipalities, which are visited every quarter. Around two thousand interviewers work on this survey, integrated into more than 500 IBGE agencies throughout the country.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the IBGE implemented the collection of survey information by telephone starting on 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 (Answering to the IBGE) or by phone (0800 721 8181), checking the interviewer's registration number, ID or CPF, data that can be requested by the respondent.

Consult the PNAD data on Sidra. The next release of the Monthly Continuous PNAD, for the quarter ending in February, will be on March 28.