IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) just published the April unemployment figures updates.
Unemployment in Brazil was 8,6% before the crisis (March 2008), it even went down to 6,8% in Decembeer 2008, when Brazil’s economy was topping (the GDP growth Q4 2008 that quarter was 6,8%). Since then the unemployment raised to 9,0% in March. In April it decreased to 8,9%; this means that in April 106.000 new jobs were created.
Also crucial is the differences between the North and South of Brazil.
Unemployment March – April in the North (read: higher then Rio de Janeiro) of Brazil:
- Salvador: 11,9% to 12,4%
- Recife: 10,6% to 10,6%
- Belo Horizonte: 6,6% tot 6,8%
Unemployment March – April in the South (Rio de Janeiro and down) of Brazil:
- Sao Paulo: 10,5% to 10,2%
- Rio de Janeiro: 6,9 to 6,8%
- Porto Alegre: 6,4% tot 6,2%
By way of comparison: Belgium currently has an unemployment rate of 11,8%. This rate will raise to 15,2% by 2011, which is an absolute recored since WWII.
Also interesting is to see the distribution of the Brazilian workforce:
45% are workers
12,5% are employees
7,6% are military of public functionaries (in Belgium this is 18,6%, more than the double)
18,6% are independents working for their own account (in Belgium this is only 17,2%)
True, many of these independents in Brazil are modest to low earners. But that is no different in Belgium: more than a third of the independents in Belgium live below the poverty treshold as this KUL study of Johan Lambrecht and Ellen Beels shows.
Tags: employment brazil
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