Brazil’s unemployment steady at 8.5% in Feb–Apr

Brazil’s unemployment rate stood at 8.5 percent in the quarter ended in April. The index shows stability from the previous quarter, which ended in January (8.4%), and a shrinkage compared to the quarter ended in April 2022 (10.5%). The data were released Wednesday (May 31) by statistics bureau IBGE.

The unemployed—i.e. those who looked for a job but could not find one—totaled 9.1 million people in April, stable if compared to January (9 million), and down 19.9 percent (2.3 million fewer citizens) compared to April last year.

Brazilians with a job add up to 98 million, down 0.6 percent (605 thousand fewer) against the quarter ended in January, and up 1.6 percent (1.5 million more) from April 2022.