In February 2015, the number of salaried employed persons in industry recorded decrease of 0.5% in comparison with the figure in the previous month, in the seasonally adjusted series, after recording increase of 0.3% in December 2014 and slight negative change of 0.2% last January. With these results, the quarterly moving average index recorded negative change of 0.1% in the quarter which ended in February 2015 ,n comparison with the level reached in the previous month,and has remained on an upward trend since April 2013. In comparison with February 2014, ndustrial employment faced decrease of 4.5%, the 41st consecutive negative result in this type of comparison and the lowest since November 2014 (-4.7%). In the cumulative index for the fist two months of 2015, employed persons in industry recorded decrease of 4.3%. The cumulative index of the last twelve months, having decreased 3.6% in February 2015, and has remained on a downward trend since September 2013 (-1.0%). The complete publication is available at www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/industria/pimes/.

In comparison with the same month in the previous year, industrial employment fell by 4.5% in February 2015, and the number of workers recorded decrease in the 18 subsectors surveyed. The main highlights in this case were negative contributions from means of transportation (-8.7%), machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatus (-12.2%), metal products (-9.4%), other products from manufacturing industry (-8.5%), machinery and equipment (-4.6%), footwear and leather (-7.1%), food products and beverages (-1.3%), apparel (-3.9%), basic metals (-6.0%) and paper and press (-3.0%).

In terms of the cumulative index of the first two months of 2014, industrial employment recorded decrease of 4.3%, with negative rates in 17 of the 18 subsectors surveyed. The main negative contributions to the national average came form means of transportation (-8.2%), machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatus (-11.8%), metal products (-8.8%), other products from manufacturing industry (-8.3%), machinery and equipment (-4.5%), footwear and leather (-7.0%), food products and beverages (-1.3%), apparel (-3.8%), basic metals (-6.0%) and paper and press (-3.2%). On the other hand, chemicals (0.0%) was the only activity not to record decrease in terms of the cumulative index in a year.

Number of hours paid changes by -0.1% in February

In February 2015, the seasonally-adjusted number of housrs paid to industry workers recorded slight negative change (0.1%) in comparison with the January figure (0.2%). With these results, the quarterly moving average index repeated, in the quarter which ended in February 2015 (0.0%), the level reached in the previous month and has maintained a predominantly negative behavior since July 2013.

In comparison with the same month in the previous year, the number of hours paid by industry workers fell 5.2% in February 2015, the twenty-first negative rate in a row in this type of comparison. In terms of the cumulative index of the first two months of 2015, the number of hours paid in industry fell by 5.2%. The cumulative index in the last twelve months, having changed from -4.1% in January to -4.4% in February, has remained on a downward trend since September 2013 (-1.0%).

In November 2014, the number of hours paid declined 5.5% when compared with the figure in the previous month. There was widespread decrease, since all the 14 areas and the 18 subsectors surveyed. The main negative contributions to the national average came form means of transportation (-8.9%), machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatus (-10.5%), metal products (-9.1%), other products from manufacturing industry (-10.5%), machinery and equipment (-5.1%), food products and beverages (-1.5%), apparel (-4.7%), basic metals (-8.6%), paper and press (-4.6%), non-metallic minerals (-3.7%) and oil refining and alcohol production (-9.1%).

In the cumulative index of the first two months of 2015, there was decrease of 5.2% in the number of hours paid, with decline in 17 of the 18 subsectors investigated. The most significant negative impacts on the overall average of industry came from means of transportation (-8.6%), fabricated metal products (-10.1%), machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatus (-9.6%), other products from manufacturing industry (-10.2%), food products and beverages (-2.3%), machinery and equipment (-6.4%), footwear and leather (-8.6%), basic metals (-8.5%), apparel (-4.1%), paper and press (-4.7%), non-metallic minerals (-3.1%) and oil refining and alcohol production (-7.2%). On the contrary, the subsector of chemicals, with slight positive change (0.1%), was the only one with a positive result in terms of the cumulative index in the year.

Real payroll falls 0.9% in February

In February 2015, the real payroll of industry workers (seasonally-adjusted) recorded decrease of 0.9% in comparison with the figure in the immediately previous month, after having faced decrease last Januart (-0.6%). It is worth mentioning that in the month there is a positive influence of the mining and quarrying sector (-17.9%), mainly influenced by the profits and results in an important company of this segment, as well as in manufacturing industry (-0.4%). Also in the seasonally-adjusted series , the quarterly moving average index for the industry overall recorded a positive change 0.2% in the quarter which ended in February 2015, compared to the level reached in the previous month, after recording negative change of 0.3% last January.

In the comparison with November 2014, real payroll decreased by 6.1%, the ninth consecutive negative rate in this type of comparison, and the most significant one since April 2003 (-6.8%). In terms of the cumulative index of the first two months of 2014, real payroll had fallen 5.2%. The cumulative index in the last twelve months, having decreased by 2.5% in February 2015, had the most significant negative result since January 2004 (-3.0%) and has been on a downward trend since January 2014 (1.6%).

In comparison with the same month a year before, real payroll recorded decrease of 6.1% in February 2015, with negative results in the 18 subsectors surveyed, the main highlights being: means of transportation (-10.2%), mining and quarrying industry (-12.4%), machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatus (-12.6%), machinery and equipment (-5.8%), metal products (-11.2%), basic metals (-7.0%), other products from manufacturing industry (-8.1%), non-metallic minerals (-5.2%), rubber and plastic (-4.1%) and footwear and leather (-7.7%).

Considering the cumulative index in the first two months of 2015, real payroll decreased by 5.2%, with negative rates in the 18 activities surveyed, mainly due to the decreases observed in means of transportation (-9.7%), machinery, electronic appliances and communication apparatus (-12.6%), machinery and equipment (-4.0%), basic metals (-5.9%), other products from manufacturing industry (-7.8%), footwear and leather (-8.7%), rubber and plastic (-3%) and paper and press (-2.3%).