Unemployment hits 12.1 million Brazilians

Unemployment has hit 12.1 million people in Brazil, equivalent to 11.9% in the moving quarter ended in November. The unemployment rate and the unemployed population are the highest in the time series of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD), which began in 2012.

The data was released today (Dec. 29) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and shows the unemployment rate has remained relatively stable compared to the previous quarter's 11.8% (June-August).

Comparing the latest data to a year before, there has been an increase of 2.9 percentage points.

The number of unemployed people has grown 33.1% compared to the same quarter of 2015—which means 3 million more people looking for jobs. The employed population today is 90.2 million people.

Translated by Mayra Borges