The job market in Brazil seems to be improving. Unemployment rate among the Economically Active Population (EAP) was 8.2% in the six major Brazilian metropolitan regions in November. The data were taken from the Monthly Employment Survey (PME) disclosed this Thursday, December 20, by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).
The number of unemployed persons was 1.922 million. According to the IBGE, this is the first time ever in the historical series of the survey (initiated in March 2002) that the number of unemployed persons was lower than 2 million workers, in a month of November.
Taking all months of the year into consideration, the number of unemployed persons is also below the 2-million mark in December 2005 and December 2006.
The rate recorded in November this year was the lowest since the beginning of the historical series, and translates into a 0.5% decrease compared with October.
The data disclosed by the IBGE show, on the other hand, that the total occupied personnel in the six metropolitan regions surveyed recorded no significant statistical variation in October, but grew 3.5% in comparison with November 2006. Unemployed population, though, decreased 5% as against October, and 12% compared with November last year.
Another data in the survey regards real habitual average of employed persons, which was 1,143.60 reais (US$ 634.66), an expansion both by the monthly comparison (1.3%), and the annual one (2.4%).
Real household income per capita, at 733,90 reais (US$ 407.29), grew 2.8% in the month and 4.5% in the year. Average real income mass for employed persons total led 24.6 billion reais (US$ 13.6 billion), a growth of 1.9% for the month and 5.4% for the year.
In a month-to-month comparison per region, the IBGE survey shows stable unemployment rates in all metropolitan regions.
In a comparison with November 2006, decreases were recorded in the metropolitan regions of Recife, in Northeast Brazil (1.4 %); Belo Horizonte, in the Southeast (1.8 %); Rio de Janeiro, in the Southeast (0.8 %); São Paulo, also in the Southeast (1.5 %); and Porto Alegre, in the South (1.9 %). In the metropolitan region of Salvador, the situation remained stable.
ABr