Unemployment slips from 12.4% to 12.3% in quarter ending in May

Brazil’s unemployment rate was reported at 12.3% in the quarter ending in May, according to figures in the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad), released today (Jun 28) by the government’s statistics agency IBGE.

The figure is lower than the quarter ending in February this year (12.4%). In the three-month period closed in May 2018, the percentage stood at 12.7 percent.

The unemployed population was reported at 13 million people—statistically stable compared both to the previous quarter and the same period last year.

The occupied population (92.9 million), in turn, grew in both comparisons: 1.2 percent (1.07  million people) from the previous quarter, and 2.6 percent (2.36 people) from the same time span in 2018.