Brazil ends 2015 with higher unemployment
The economic crisis has led to an increase in self-employment in the informal sector
Based on the average of the first three quarters this year, Brazil's preliminary unemployment rate for 2015 should stand at 8.4%, which exceeds the average rates recorded for the third quarter in 2014 (6.9%), 2013 (7.4%) and 2012 (7.5%).
The data is based on the National Household Sample Survey. “There are more people looking for jobs now than there were last year. Unemployment is rising because of structural changes in the labor market,” said Cimar Azeredo, a researcher at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
He pointed out that in the last quarter of 2015 there was a significant drop in the number of people working under formal employment contracts. On the other hand, the self-employed population grew. “There's been a decline in formal payroll employment, but not in broader employment,” Azeredo said. This labor market change shows a loss of stability and forces schoolchildren and even the elderly to look for a job in order to support their living standards.
According to the researcher, men play the role of providers in the household in most cases. “Once they lose their jobs, they don't have the choice to be out of work so they look to the informal sector and work as street peddlers or beach ice cream vendors to earn income and support their families. Thus we regard them as being in employment in a broader sense—they're not in formal employment, but they are working.”
An analysis of the present situation shows that the employed population is stable, but the out-of-work population has also grown larger because of a change in market structure, Azeredo pointed out. Despite that, he said, Brazil's workforce grew in 2015. As of the third quarter, there were 2 million more people in the labor force.
Domestic workers, women, and youth
The labor market crisis “has stopped the decline in the search for domestic work, although there haven't been any increases either,” Azevedo said. However, domestic employment tends to increase because many people with little money and low educational backgrounds who used to be employed and left the market tend to turn to domestic work again.
Domestic workers were one of the groups that have had the most significant income improvements in recent years because, with few such workers out in the market, their services became more valued. The downside is that, as the overall population's income declined, so has the demand for this kind of service. And since the market trend is one of increased domestic worker availability, payment for their services tends to fall again.
The unemployment rate is higher among women and youth. Unemployment among young people aged 18-24 years was 19.7% in the period from July to September this year. And in the third quarter of 2015, women accounted for 51.2% of the unemployed population. Cimar Azeredo pointed out that in a market marred by job cuts, young people struggle to join the labor force because they “lack experience”.
Talking about women, the researcher said that the unemployment rate is related to a cultural factor, as well as the double shift they have to complete juggling a career with their role as homemakers and caregivers at home. Women also face difficulties being hired because of employers' concerns about potential pregnancy. This is truest of small businesses.
Regions
With higher inequality and poverty rates, the North and Northeast regions top the unemployment ranking in Brazil. “That's what it's typically been (like),” Azeredo said. In the third quarter in 2015, the unemployment rate reached 10.8% in the Northeast. Employment opportunities are better in the South and Southeast regions, where the market is more buoyant. In the South, the unemployment rate was 6% in the surveyed period.
Among economic sectors, most job cuts were reported for industry, which “lost more than half a million [posts] in one year, and construction, which slashed 300,000 jobs.” These workers moved to trade and services.
The significant rise of formal hires in recent years resulted in the creation of a strong labor safety net, Azeredo said. “But this is limited, that safety net will not last forever,” he said. According to him, unless the economic trend shifts soon and the hires pick up again, the situation can get worse.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Brazil ends 2015 with higher unemployment
