Lower demand makes unemployment stable in almost all states

Unemployment was stable in 26 federation units in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the previous one, with the stability of the national rate, which was 11.1%, according to data from Pnad (National Household Sample Survey) Continuous, released this Friday (13) the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

The only drop occurred in Amapá (14.2%), which changed -3.3 pp compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.

The data released in April already indicated that the unemployment rate was stable, with the search for job vacancies stopped in the first three months of the year. From January to March, the unemployment rate was 11.1%, the same level as in the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to IBGE analysts, the fact that there was no growth in the search for work in the quarter explains the stability of unemployment. The scenario is different from that recorded in the other quarters ending in March, when, due to seasonality, there was an increase in demand for work.

The number of people who were looking for work for two years or more stood at 3.46 million in the first quarter, compared to 3.59 million in the same quarter last year.

The survey shows that the large metropolitan regions of the country had stable unemployment rates, when compared to the last quarter of last year, with the Northeast (14.9%) having the highest rate throughout all the quarters analyzed. . The South region had the lowest, 6.5%.

The highest unemployment rates were in Bahia (17.6%), Pernambuco (17.0%) and Rio de Janeiro (14.9%); at the other end, the lowest unemployment rates were measured in Santa Catarina (4.5%), Mato Grosso (5.3%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (6.5%).

Amapá was the only state in the country where there was a drop, of 3.3 pp, from 17.5% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 14.2% in the first quarter of this year.

• Bahia: 17.6%
• Pernambuco: 17%
• Rio de Janeiro: 14.9%
• Sergipe: 14.9%
• Acre: 14.8%
• Paraíba: 14.3%
• Alagoas: 14.2%
• Amapá: 14.2%
• Rio Grande do Norte: 14.1%
• Amazon: 13%
• Maranhao: 12.9%
• Federal District: 12.6%
• Piauí: 12.3%
• Pará: 12.2%
• Brazil: 11.1%
• Ceará: 11%
• São Paulo: 10.8%
• Minas Gerais: 9.3%
• Tocantins: 9.3%
• Espírito Santo: 9.2%
• Goiás: 8.9%
• Roraima: 8.8%
• Rio Grande do Sul: 7.5%
• Rondônia: 6.9%
• Paraná: 6.8%
• Mato Grosso do Sul: 6.5%
• Mato Grosso: 5.3%
• Santa Catarina: 4.5%

“This drop, however, is not due to the increase in the number of employed people, but to the lower pressure of people without work seeking employment in the state. There was a 7.3% drop in the number of people in the workforce and an increase in 10.4% in the contingent outside the force”, analyzes the coordinator of Work and Income at IBGE, Adriana Beringuy.

INCOME FROM WORK ONLY GROWS IN SÃO PAULO

The national numbers also pointed to a worrying fact: if the income was R$ 2,548, an increase of 1.5% compared to December (R$ 2,510), the drop is considerable, when compared to the same period of the year. past. Compared to the first quarter of 2021, workers’ income dropped by 8.7%. The mass of income was estimated at R$ 237.7 billion.

“In comparison with the fourth quarter of 2021, only the North (R$ 1,985) and Southeast (R$ 2,875) regions had a significant expansion in average income. For some of them, the only state that actually had a statistically significant increase was São Paulo (R$3,107),” adds Beringuy.

In Brazil, the number of self-employed workers in comparison with the last quarter fell by 2.5%. This means that 660 thousand people in this category left the market. According to the IBGE, in this contingent, 475 thousand were workers without CNPJ.

According to the survey, the number of employees in the private sector with a formal contract increased, reaching 34.9 million people. In comparison with the quarter ended in December, there was an increase of 1.1%, or 380 thousand people. The category grew for the fourth consecutive quarter, but at a lower percentage than that observed in the quarters of 2021.

The Pnad Contínua’s historical series began in 2012. According to the IBGE, the survey is the main instrument for monitoring the country’s workforce. The Pnad Contínua sample corresponds to 211 thousand households, with around 2 thousand interviewers in 26 states and the Federal District.