Increase in Unemployment Rate is Highest Among Brazil's Youngest Workers

02/24/2017 - 11h03

Unemployment increased more among the youngest members of the population than among other age groups last year, when unemployment reached record levels in Brazil, according to data released by IBGE (Brazilian Geographical and Statistic Institute).

Among workers aged 14 to 17 years of age, the unemployment rate reached 39,7% in the fourth quarter of last year, according to information from Pnad (National Household Sampling Survey) released on Thursday (23).

Compared to the end of 2015, the unemployment rate increased 10,9 percentage points in this age group, which has a high concentration of young trainees who work fewer hours per week than the average worker.

For workers aged 18 to 24 years old, a group that includes recent graduates that are entering the labor Market for the first time, the unemployment rate reached 25,9% at the end of last year, an increase of 6,5 percentage points since 2015.

In general, the country's unemployment rate reached an average of 12% in the last quarter of the year, an increase of 2,7 percentage points.

According to IBGE, the country entered the new year with approximately 12 million unemployed workers looking for work.

Nearly half of the 11,7 million unemployed at the end of 2016 had been looking for work for less than a year.

In the last quarter, 2,3 million other workers had already been looking for work for more than two years.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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