Unemployment has the best rate of the year, but there was a drop in real income, says economist

The 12.1% drop in unemployment in the quarter ended in October represents a “small positive surprise”, in the assessment of economist and professor at FGV, Mauro Rochlin. In an interview with CNN Radio, he said that the PNAD data released this Tuesday (28) by the IBGE came “a little above expectations.”

“12.1% of the unemployed population represents the best rate of the year, which started at around 15%, it is an improvement that is not negligible, the result was quite good, but, on the other hand, there is a very strong drop in real income of the worker”, he said.

Real income decreased by 4.6%, with the increase in occupation influenced by informal work. Compared with the same quarter in 2020, the drop was 11.1%. According to the economist, “you can’t be too optimistic” with the last quarter of the year, since historically the month of December “is not usually good for the job market”, with layoffs that usually last until February.

Mauro also drew attention to the despondent population. “There was a significant drop, of almost 5%, which means that a portion of this population has started to look for a job and sees a possibility that it had not considered before.”