In the seasonally-adjusted series, the number of persons employed in industry declined in relation to April 2015 (-1.0%) and May 2014 (-5.8%), registering a cumulative loss in the year
(-5.0%) and in the last 12 months (-4.4%). The number of hours paid also recorded negative rates in these four comparisons (-1.3%, -6.6%, -5.6% and -5.1%), as well as the value of real payroll (-3.7%, -9.7%, -5.9% and -4.2%).
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In May 2015, the total number of salaried employed persons and the number of hours paid in industry remained low profile, the former posting the fifth consecutive negative figure and the latter registering the sharpest drop since January 2009. These figures particularly reflected the decreasing pace of the industrial output since the last quarter of 2013, a reduction of 9.7% since October 2013. The number of employed persons and the number of hours paid also recorded losses: -7.3% and -8.2%, respectively. The evolution of the quarterly moving average reinforced this picture: its performance was predominantly negative for both variables since the end of the first semester of 2013.

The signs of low dynamism were also evident when comparing the first quarter of 2015 with the cumulative index in April-May 2015, both comparisons against the same periods a year ago, in which both the salaried employed persons (from -4.6% to -5.6%) and the number of hours paid (from -5.2% to -6.3%) stressed the negative behavior, following the downward movement of the industrial output, which changed from -5.9% to -8.3% in this period.

Salaried Employed Personnel declines 1.0%

In the seasonally-adjusted series, the total salaried employed persons in industry fell 1.0% in May 2015 against the level of the immediately previous month. It was the fifth consecutive negative rate, registering a cumulative loss of 3.1% in this period. It is worth mentioning that this was the most intense retreat since February 2009 (-1.3%). Considering these figures, the quarterly moving average index declined 0.8% in the quarter ended in May 2015 over the previous month and maintained the downward trend started in April 2013.

Comparing with the same month a year ago, the industrial employment retreated 5.8% in May 2015, recording the forty-fourth consecutive negative figure in this comparison and the most intense since September 2009 (-6.1%). The number of persons employed in industry declined 5.0% in the cumulative index in the year, posting a sharper pace of decline than that registered in the first quarter of 2015 (-4.6%), both of them compared with the same periods in the previous year. The cumulative rate in the last 12 months retreated 4.4% and kept the downward pace started in September 2013 (-1.0%).

In May 2015, the contingent of employees retreated in 17 out of the 18 sectors surveyed, highlighted by means of transportation (-11.0%), food and beverages
(-3.2%), communication and electric-electronic machinery and apparatus (-12.9%), fabricated metal products (-10.6%), machinery and equipment (-7.2%), wearing apparel (-7.5%), other manufactured products (-9.6%), footwear and leather (-7.6%), basic metals (-6.6%), paper and press (-3.3%), petroleum refining and ethanol production (-7.0%), mining and quarrying industries (-5.2%), non-metallic minerals (-2.4%) and textiles (-2.9%). The sector of chemicals (0.2%) registered the only positive figure in May.

The industrial employment declined 5.0% in the cumulative rate in the year, recording negative rates in the 18 sectors surveyed. The most relevant negative contributions came from means of transportation (-9.5%), communications and electric-electronic machinery and apparatus (-12.2%), fabricated metal products (-9.9%), food and beverages (-2.1%), machinery and equipment
(-5.8%), other manufactured products (-8.6%), footwear and leather (-7.4%), wearing apparel (-5.1%), basic metals (-6.4%), paper and press (-3.1%), petroleum refining and ethanol production (-6.8%), mining and quarrying industries (-4.4%) and textiles (-2.7%).

Number of Hours Paid declines 1.3%

Discounted the seasonal influences, the number of hours paid to workers of industry in May 2015 declined 1.3% over the immediately previous month, the third negative rate in a row and a cumulative loss of 2.8% in the period. This retreat was the most intense since January 2009 (-1.5%). Considering these figures, the quarterly moving average index declined 0.9% in the quarter ended in May 2015 over the previous month and maintained the downward trend started in May 2013.

The number of hours paid in industry fell 6.6% in May 2015 in relation to the same month a year ago, registering the twenty-fourth consecutive negative rate in this comparison and the most intense since August 2009 (-6.7%). The number of hours paid in industry declined 5.6% in the cumulative index in the year, increasing the magnitude of the decline recorded in the first quarter of the year
(-5.2%), both of them compared with the same periods in the previous year. Having changed from -4.8% in April to -5.1% in May, the cumulative index in the last 12 months maintained the downward trend started in September 2013 (-1.0%).

Having dropped in 17 out of the 18 sectors surveyed, the number of hours paid declined 6.6% in May 2015 over the same month in 2014. The main negative influences came from means of transportation (-12.5%), machinery and equipment (-10.0%), food and beverages (-3.3%), communication and electric-electronic machinery and apparatus
(-13.1%), fabricated metal products (-11.1%), footwear and leather (-11.6%), other manufactured products (-9.1%), wearing apparel (-5.7%), basic metals (-9,6%), paper and press (-4.4%), non-metallic minerals (-3.8%), petroleum refining and ethanol production
(-8.6%), rubber and plastic (-3.5%) and mining and quarrying industries (-4.9%). Conversely, the sector of chemicals (0.4%) was the only positive influence in May.

Having declined in the 18 sectors surveyed, the number of hours paid retreated 5.6% in the cumulative index of the year. The highlights were means of transportation (-10.3%), fabricated metal products (-10.5%), communication and electric-electronic machinery and apparatus (-11.0%), food and beverages (-2.6%), machinery and equipment (-7.3%), footwear and leather (-10.0%), other manufactured products (-9.3%), wearing apparel (-4.8%), basic metals (-8.3%), paper and press (-4.3%), non-metallic minerals (-3.5%), petroleum refining and ethanol production (-8.5%), rubber and plastic (-2.1%) and mining and quarrying industries (-4.0%).

Real payroll declines 3.7%

In May 2015, the seasonally-adjusted real payroll of industry workers retreated 3.7% against the immediately previous month, the second consecutive negative rate and a cumulative reduction of 4.6% in this period. The retreat in May was the most intense since January 2013 (-5.3%). The May 2015 index was negatively influenced both by the mining and quarrying sector (-6.0%), stressing the drop of 3.5% registered in the previous month, and by the manufacturing industry (-2.6%), which remained declining for the fifth month in a row. Considering these figures, the quarterly moving average declined 1.5% in the quarter ended in May 2015 over the previous month and maintained the downward trend started in February.

The value of the real payroll declined 9.7% in May 2015 in relation to the same month in the previous year, the twelfth consecutive negative rate in this type of comparison and the most intense since the beginning of the time series. In the cumulative index in the year, the value of the real payroll in industry retreated 5.9% and accelerated the downward pace recorded in the first quarter of the year (-4.9%), both of them compared with the same periods in the previous year. The cumulative rate in the last 12 months (-4.2%) posted the most intense drop since November 2003 (-5.0%), maintaining the downward trend since January 2014 (1.6%).

Having registered negative figures in 17 out of the 18 sectors surveyed, the value of the real payroll dropped 9.7% in relation to the same month of 2014, highlighted by means of transportation (-15.1%), mining and quarrying industries (-30.6%), petroleum refining and ethanol production (-29.4%), food and beverages (-5.8%), communication and electric-electronic machinery and apparatus (-11.6%), basic metals (-12.0%), machinery and equipment (-5.9%), fabricated metal products (-10.1%), other manufactured products (-8.1%), footwear and leather (-10.2%), rubber and plastic (-4.0%) and paper and press (-2.6%).

The sharpest negative figures recorded by mining and quarrying industries and petroleum refining and ethanol production industries were due to the high comparison basis, since they advanced, respectively, 8.8% and 10.5% in May 2014, largely influenced by the payment of profit sharing in important companies of these sectors. Having slightly changed 0.1%, the activity of chemicals registered the only positive influence in May.

In the cumulative index in the year, the real payroll fell 5.9% involving the drop of the 18 activities surveyed, mainly due to means of transportation (-10.6%), mining and quarrying industries (-10.5%), communication and electric-electronic machinery and apparatus (-10.6%), fabricated metal products (-10.3%), machinery and equipment (-4.1%), basic metals (-8.4%), food and beverages (-2.6%), petroleum refining and ethanol production (-10.6%), footwear and leather (-9.7%), other manufactured products (-7.2%), rubber and plastic (-2.9%) and paper and press (-2.0%).