Recession Makes Number of Employed Brazilians Fall to 89 Million

10/28/2016 - 12h08

The economic recession has made the number of employed people in Brazil decline by more than two million.

Data disclosed on Thursday, October 27, by the IBGE, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, show that the number of workers in the country, in formal and informal jobs, fell 2.4% between July and September in comparison with the same period last year - a total decline from 92 million workers to the current 89.8 million.

The result is that the number of employed people in Brazil is the lowest in more than four years – since the beginning of 2012, when the labor market was first surveyed by the IBGE.

The share of employed people is now 54%. In the same period in 2013, before Brazilian figures started to drop due to the current recession, which began in the second quarter of 2014, the total was 57.1%.

The fall is a consequence of the decline in economic activities. Analysts believe the results also indicate that the labor market has reached a new and worrying level. By the end of 2015, many of those who lost their formal jobs tried to work in unofficial jobs.

These workers are classified by the IBGE as self-employed and their number rose 5.3% in 2015 and helped to hold the increasing total number of unemployed workers.

This year, as the crisis continues to affect the country, even the number of informal jobs is deteriorating. The number of "self-employed" workers fell 1.7% in the first quarter of this year in comparison with 2015.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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