Unemployment due to the pandemic rises 27.6% in four months, highlights the IBGE | economy

The population employed in the labor market was estimated at 84.4 million people, accumulating a reduction of 2.7% in relation to May.

As a result, the unemployment rate was 13.6%. Among the five regions of the country, the highest rates were observed in the Northeast (15.7%), the North (14.2%) and the Southeast (14.0%). The Midwest (12.2%) and South (10.0%) regions had a lower rate than the national average.

IBGE pointed out that the South Region was the only one that showed a drop in the unemployed population from July to August.

The unemployment figures accumulated throughout August were below those registered at the end of the fourth week of the month, ending on the 29th. Until that date, the country had registered a record number of unemployed during the pandemic, adding this contingent around 13.7 million people, which left the rate at 14.3%.

The IBGE pointed out that the unemployment rate for women is higher than that of men, 16.2% and 11.7%, respectively, which is observed in all the Large Regions.

By color or race, the rate was higher among black or brown people (15.4%) than among whites (11.5%).

Regarding the age groups, the youngest had higher rates (23.3% for those between 14 and 29 years old). By level of education, those with a college or graduate degree had the lowest rates (6.8%).

Flexibility promotes greater job search

The IBGE survey showed that at the end of August, 27.2 million Brazilians said they would like to work, but did not look for work for the entire month. Of these, 17.5 million (64.4%) stated that they stopped looking for work in the labor market due to the pandemic or the lack of work in the area, but would like to work.

In May, when the survey began, 70.2% of all people pointed to the social isolation promoted by the pandemic as the main reason for not looking for work. This would indicate that the alleviation of social isolation, which is advancing throughout the country, is causing more people to pressure the labor market in search of a job opportunity.

Informality rises again

According to the survey, the country ended August with 27.9 million people working informally. Compared to May, when this contingent was 29.3 million, there was a decrease of approximately 5% in the number of informal workers.

Informality, the percentage does not vary much between months.

However, compared to July (27.4 million), there was an increase of around 2% in the number of these workers, it was the first monthly increase since then, since from June to July there was also a decrease, of 6 % of this fee.

IBGE considers informal workers to be those private sector employees without a formal contract, domestic workers without a license, self-employed without CNPJ and employers without CNPJ, in addition to people who help relatives.

With the increase from July to August, the informality rate went from 33.6% to 33.9%.

Pnad Covid X Pnad Continuous

The survey was conducted during the month of August through Pnad Covid19, Version of the Continuous National Survey by Household Sample carried out with the support of the Ministry of Health to identify the impacts of the pandemic on the labor market and quantify people with symptoms associated with influenza syndrome in Brazil.

Although it also evaluates the labor market, the Pnad Covid19 is not comparable to the data from the Pnad Continua, which is used as an official indicator of unemployment in the country, due to the different methodological characteristics. The most current data from Continuous Pnad are for July and point to an increase in unemployment to 13.3%, with a record drop in the number of employed persons.

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