In January 2015, the seasonally adjusted number of salaried employed persons in industry recorded negative change of 0.1% in comparison with the figure in the previous month, after recording increase of 0.3% last December, when the result interrupted a series of eight negative monthly figures in a row, with cumulative loss of 4.3%. Considering the latest results, the quarterly moving average index recorded a negative change of 0.1% in the quarter which ended in January 2015, in comparison with the level reached in the previous month, and has remained on an upward trend since April 2013. In comparison with January 2014 figures, industrial employment recorded decrease of 4.1%, the fortieth consecutive negative result in this type of comparison. The annualized rate, the cumulative index of the previous twelve months, decreased 3.4% in January 2015, and has remained on a downward trend since September 2013 (-1.0%). The complete publication is available at

In comparison with the same month in the previous year, industrial employment decreased 4.1% in January 2015, with decrease of the number of workers in seventeen of the eighteen subsectors surveyed, the main highlights being the negative contributions from machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatuses (-11.3%), means of transportation (-7.7), fabricated metal products (-7.7%), other products from manufacturing industry (-8%), machinery and equipment (-4.5%), footwear and leather (-6.8%), food and beverages (-1.3%), apparel (-3.9%), basic metals (-6.3%) and paper and press (-3.3%). On the other hand, the main positive impacts on the average of industry came from the subsectors of chemicals (0.5%).

Number of hours paid is 0.2% bigger than in December

In January 2015, the number of hours paid recorded negative decrease of 0.2% in comparison with the immediately previous quarter in a row, a period when there was cumulative loss of 5.1%. With these results, the quarterly moving average index recorded negative change of 0.3% in the quarter which ended in January 2015 in comparison with the level reached in the previous month and has remained on an upward trend since May 2013.

In comparison with the January 2014 figure, the number of hours paid by industry workers fell 5.2% in January 2015, the twentieth negative rate in a row in this type of comparison. The annualized rate, the cumulative index of the last twelve months, decreased 3.4% in January 2015, and has remained on a downward trend since September 2013 (-1.0%).

The decline of this indicator was widespread, since seventeen of the eighteen subsectors surveyed recorded decrease. The most significant negative contributions came from metal products (-10.9%), means of transportation (-8.4%), food products and beverages (-2.9%), machinery and equipment (-7.7%), other products from manufacturing industry (-10.0%), machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatuses (-8.5%), footwear and leather (-8.3%), basic metals (-8.5%), apparel (-3.8%) and paper and press (-4.9%). On the contrary, the subsectors of chemicals, with increase of 1.0% was the only one with a positive result in the month.

Real payroll falls 0.5% in January

In January 2015, the real payroll of industry workers (seasonally-adjusted) recorded decrease of 0.5% in comparison with the figure in the immediately previous month, eliminating part of the advance of 2.1% recorded last December. It is worth mentioning that in the month there is a positive influence of the mining and quarrying sector (9.1%), mainly influenced by the profits and results in an important company of this segment, since manufacturing industry (-1.6%) recorded a negative rate. Also in the seasonally-adjusted series , the quarterly moving average index for the industry overall recorded a negative 0.3% in the quarter which ended in January 2015, compared to the level reached in the previous year, after recording positive change of 0.2% last December.

In the comparison with the same month a year ago, real payroll decreased by 4.2% in January 2015, the eighth consecutive negative rate in this type of comparison. The cumulative index in the last twelve months, having decreased by 1.8% in January 2015, had the most significant negative result since February 2010 (-2.3%) and remained on a downward trend as started in 2014 (1.6%).

The decrease of real payroll occurred due to the negative results among the eighteen subsectors surveyed, the main highlights being means of transportation (-9.3%), machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatuses (-12.3%), fabricated metal products (-10.8%), food and beverages (-2.2%), basic metals (-4.8%), other products from manufacturing industry (-7.2%), paper and press (-3.8%), machinery and equipment (-1.9%), rubber and plastic (-3.9%) and footwear and leather (-8.4%). On the other hand, among the three subsectors which recorded positive results in the month, the main impact was that of mining and quarrying industry (6.7%).