Unemployment drops to 5.3%, lowest for the quarter ending in July

The unemployment rate for the quarter ending in July hit 5.3%, marking the lowest level in the entire time series of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), which began in 2012. This was a significant drop from the previous quarter, which ended at 5.8%. The same period last year saw a rate of 5.6%. Released by the statistics bureau IBGE on Thursday, the data showed a record high of 103.3 million employed people in Brazil.

Of these, 39.4 million worked in formal employment, also a new high. However, the number of workers without formal contracts rose by 3.6% to 13.8 million compared to April.

The growth in employment was primarily fueled by the civil construction sector. Analyst William Kratochwill attributed this to technological advancements making job searches easier, stating that today you can find work with just a phone and a bicycle. In the transportation, warehousing, and mail sector – which includes gig economy delivery workers – employment increased by 5.4% compared to the same period last year.

Unemployment decreased by 503,000 people, or 8%, from the February–April quarter. Informal workers, those without official registration or formal legal entity status, made up 37.5% of the workforce, up from 37.2% in April. The discouraged labor force, those not seeking employment believing they couldn't find a job, fell by 9.7% to 2.3 million. The average worker's income dropped by 0.7% to BRL 3,762, classified as "stable" by IBGE.

The IBGE survey tracks labor market trends for those aged 14 and older, including formal and informal jobs, temporary positions, and self-employment. Only those who actively sought work within 30 days prior to the survey are counted as unemployed. The survey covers 211,000 households across Brazil and the Federal District.