The unemployment rate in the moving quarter ended in February 2015 was estimated at 7.4% for Brazil, staying above the rate of the same quarter of the previous year (6.8%) and surpassing also the result of the quarter ended in November 2014 (6.5%). Conversely, the usual real earnings from all jobs (R$ 1,817) stayed above (1.1%) the value recorded in the quarter ended in February of the previous year (R$ 1,798) and above (1.3%) the figure estimated for the quarter ended in November 2014 (R$ 1,793). The usual real wage bill from all jobs for the quarter ended in February (R$ 162 billion) stood above (2.2%) the value recorded in the same quarter a year ago (R$ 159 billion) and also above (0.7%) the quarter ended in November 2014 (R$ 161 billion). The complete publication of the continuous PNAD is available at:  https://www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/trabalhoerendimento/pnad_continua_mensal/default.shtm.

The indicators of the Continuous PNAD are calculated for moving quarters, using the information of the last three consecutive months of the survey. The rate of the moving quarter ended in February 2015 was calculated based on information collected in December/2014, January/2015 and February/2015. The information used for the calculation of the indicators for the moving quarters ended in January and February, for example, presents nearly 66% of data repetition. This repetition only ceases to exist after an interval of two moving quarters. Any other information on the survey methodology can be found on: https://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/indicadores/trabalhoerendimento/pnad_continua_mensal/default_notas.shtm.

Unemployment rate of the moving quarters throughout the years

In the quarter ended in February there was 7.4 million unemployed persons. That figure was 6.5 million in the quarter from September to November 2014, recording a high of 950 thousand persons (14.7%) in this group.

The number of employed persons was estimated at 92.3 million. In the comparison with the quarter from September to November (2014) there was a reduction of 401 thousand persons (-0.4%) in this group.

The graph below shows the series of the monthly usual real wage bill from all jobs until the moving quarter ended in February.