Also in the analysis by area, the unemployed population did not present any monthly change in any of the areas analyzed, but, when compared to April 2009, faced decrease of 23.8% in São Paulo. 

EMPLOYED POPULATION

With reference to the employed population (21.8 million persons in April), in the average of six metropolitan areas surveyed (April/March comparison) there was stability in almost all the groups of activity, except in education, health, social services, public administration, defense and social security, which increased by 3.0%.

Compared to figures in April 2009, the number of persons employed employment increased in mining and quarrying industry, manufacturing industry and distribution of electricity, gas and water (4.8%); construction (10.6%); services rendered to enterprises, rents, real estate activities and financial mediation (6.4%); education, health, public administration, defense and social security (4.0%); and other services (6.4%).

In April, workers with a formal contract in the private sector (10.1 million persons) made up 46.4% of the employed persons.

INCOME

The chart below shows figures, in April, relative to the average income of workers in the group (R$ 1,424.10) and by area surveyed.

The table below shows the changes of real income usually earned, by groups of activity:

The estimated unemployment rate in April 2010 was 7.3%, according to the Monthly Employment Survey (PME), being 0.3 percentage points below the March rate (7.6%). Compared to April 2009 (8.9%), the rate decreased 1.6 percentage points and reached its lowest level since the beginning of the new PME series (March 2002), both in the group of six metropolitan areas surveyed and in each one of them separately.  

The number of unemployed persons (1.7 million persons) did not change in relation to March and decreased 16.4% in relation to figure in April 2009.

The employed population (21.8 million persons) was also stable compared to the figure in the previous month, whereas compared to April last year it increased 4.3%, with more than  907 thousand job posts created in one year.

A similar pattern was observed in workers with a formal contract (10.1 million persons) in April, which did not change in the monthly comparison, but increased 7.5% in the annual one, resulting in more than 704 thousand jobs with a formal contract.

The usual real income of workers (R$ 1,424.10) was stable in relation to March figure (R$ 1,423.32); compared to April 2009 (R$ 1,392.65), there was increase of 2.3%.

The volume of usual real income of the employed population (R$ 31.4 billion), relative to April, increased 0.6% in the month and 6.6% in the year. The volume of effective income of the employed population (R$ 31.2 billion) relative to March 2010 increased 1.0% in the month, and 7.3% in the year.

The household income per capita (R$ 930.59) decreased 0.4% in relation to the figure in March, and increased 2.4% compared to April 2009.

By area, unemployment rates did no present any significant changes in relation to March. Compared to April 2009, there were decreases of 2.5 percentage points in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, of 1.0 in Belo Horizonte and of 0.9 in Rio de Janeiro.

By position in the occupation, in relation to March, there was decrease of workers without a formal contract (-5.6%) and stability in the others. Compared to April 2009, there were increases in all positions: workers with a formal contract in the private sector (1.7%), workers without a formal contract in the private sector (9.4%), military or civil servants (1.8%) and own-account workers (3.1%), as shown in the table below:

HOUSEHOLD INCOME PER CAPITA

In relation to March, the household income per capita did not decrease by 0.4%, but increased by 2.4% in relation to April 2009. The table below presents the figures and changes of this indicator in the six metropolitan areas surveyed by the Monthly Employment Survey.

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¹ PME investigates the urban areas in the metropolitan areas of  Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador e São Paulo.