Unemployment falls to 8.9% in the quarter ended in August, says IBGE

The unemployment rate in Brazil was 8.9% in the quarter ended in August, informed the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) this Friday (30). The number represents a drop of 0.9 percentage point compared to the previous quarter, ended in May, and is the lowest level since the quarter ended in July 2015 (8.7%).

Data are from Pnad Contínua (Continuous National Household Sample Survey).

The result was in line with market expectations, which expected a rate of 8.9%, according to a Reuters survey.

The number of employed persons broke a new record in the historical series, which began in 2012, totaling 99 million persons. The number of unemployed workers, on the other hand, fell by 8.8% (937 thousand fewer people) in the quarterly comparison, the lowest level since November 2015.

In the annual comparison, the fall is 30.1% (4.2 million less).

The usual real income grew for the second consecutive month, reaching R$ 2,713 in the quarter.

The level of occupation (percentage of employed persons in the working age population) rose to 57.1% in the period compared to the previous quarter (56.4%), above the 53.4% ​​recorded in the same period last year.

“The job market follows the trend shown last month, continuing the flow that occurs throughout the year, of recovery”, explains Adriana Beringuy, research coordinator, in a press release.

Activities that helped with the fall

The IBGE highlights three activities as the main influences for the fall in unemployment in August: “the “Trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” sector rose 3% compared to the previous quarter, adding 566,000 people to the job market. “Public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services” grew by 2.9% (488 thousand people more) while the “Other services” group increased by 4.1% (211 thousand people).

*In update