Brazil ended 2024 with a positive balance of 1,693,673 jobs with a permanent contract (i.e. posts with full rights under the country’s CLT labor code). The figure represents an annual growth of 16.5 percent compared to 2023’s 1,454,124. The data were released Thursday (Jan. 30) by the Ministry of Labor and Employment.
The number is the difference between 25,567,548 hires and 23,873,575 dismissals. Active posts totaled 47,210,948 in December, up 3.7 percent from the 45,517,275 reported in same month the previous year.
All five major economic groups had a positive balance in 2024. Services was the one with the highest employment in 2024—929,002 jobs generated. Next came trade, with 336,110; industry had 306,889; in construction, the balance stood at 110,921 jobs; and in agriculture, 10,808 jobs were created.
The result was also positive last year across all 27 states, with São Paulo atop the ranking with 459,371 jobs added, followed by Rio de Janeiro with 145,540, and Minas Gerais with 139,503.
The data also show that women occupied most of the new openings. In 2024, the balance was positive for women at 898,680 spots, while men had 794,993.
December
Despite the positive result for the year, the balance in December showed a reduction of 535,547 jobs, down 1.12 percent from November.
Regarding the result for the last month of the year, Employment Minister Luís Marinho said that the number was higher than expected. “It was even higher than we expected, which was around 450 thousand, but it came to 535 thousand,” he during a presser on the figures.
Asked if the difference between the expected result and the observed one could be a reflection of the successive hikes in Brazil's benchmark interest rate—the Selic—Minister Marinho said it is not possible to say, but added that the ministry will continue to observe the economy's behavior.
“Of course nobody expected anything different from the [Monetary Policy Committee], given last year’s circumstances. But it’s clear that the figure may be influenced by the interest rates in December. We’ll have to observe this first quarter to see how the sectors of the economy will behave,” he declared.
On Wednesday (29), the Monetary Policy Committee once again increased the Selic by one percentage point, to 13.25 percent a year. This was the fourth consecutive rise.
