Unemployment in Brazil decreases and approaches pre-pandemic level, says Ipea

After two years, the number of Brazilians employed, in January of this year, approaches the number of workers in the country before the arrival of the coronavirus, in 2020.

Information released this Monday (28) by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), based on data from the latest National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua), indicates a resumption of the job market.

According to the survey carried out by the federal institute, linked to the structure of the Ministry of Economy, the first month of 2022 registered a total of 94.1 million employees in Brazil.

In January 2020, before the start of the pandemic, this contingent was 94.5 million. In comparison with January of last year, the current scenario represents an increase of 8.1% in the number of employed workers.

According to Ipea, this increase was mainly responsible for the 3.3 percentage point drop in the unemployment rate. The index went from 14.7% in January 2021 to 11.4% for the same period this year.

Despite the drop having occurred in a generalized way in the country, the biggest decrease was in the Southeast region. The study reveals that São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo were the main responsible for the improvement in the number of unemployed.

In the four states in the region, the percentage of unemployed people fell from 15.1% in the first month of last year to 11.2% in January 2022.

Although the study presents a more favorable scenario and indicates the resumption of pre-pandemic levels, Ipea highlights that the number of unemployed is still quite significant. Currently, there are 12.1 million citizens without a job.

The agency also claims that most of the new jobs that have emerged have been generated in informal segments of the economy. That is, despite being employed, many of these people are receiving less and do not have the protection of labor rights.

Unemployment decline is greatest among young people

In the evaluation by age, the most intense decline occurred among the youngest. Although all groups registered a decline in unemployment, unemployment went back 6.2 percentage points among the youngest. Between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2021, the reduction in this group was from 29% to 22.8%.

The number of employed people with incomplete primary education also showed a growth of 16.2%, allowing a drop of 5.1 percentage points in the unemployment rate, which went from 23.5% to 18.4% in the period in question.

* Under supervision of Stéfano Salles