Unemployment in the Northeast reaches 14.9%, more than double the rate recorded in the South of the country; see ranking

The unemployment rate was stable between the regions of the country in the first quarter of this year, compared to the fourth quarter of last year, but there is still inequality in the labor market between the regions: the unemployment rate in the Northeast is at 14.9 %. It is more than double that recorded in the South region in the same period, in which the indicator stood at 6.5%.

The data are from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD), released this Friday by the IBGE.

In the national average, the unemployment rate was 11.1% in the first quarter of this year, which indicates stability. Even so, almost 12 million Brazilians lack work, as already disclosed by the IBGE.

The only drop occurred in Amapá, whose rate dropped 3.3 percentage points, from 17.5% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 14.2% in the first quarter of this year.

Below is the unemployment rate by region:

• Northeast: 14.9%
• North: 11.7%
• Southeast: 11.1%
• Midwest: 8.5%
• South: 6.5%

In the classification by job category, the states of Amapá (35.9%), Amazonas (35.7%), Pará (34.6%) and Rondônia (32.4%) – all in the North region of the country – concentrated the highest percentages of self-employed workers.

Pará also had the highest percentage of informal workers (62.9%). North and Northeast concentrate the highest percentages of these professional categories.

On the other hand, Southeast (69.7%) and Central-West (71.0%) had a greater participation of employees. Santa Catarina (88.2%) was the state with the highest percentage of workers with a formal contract in the private sector. In Maranhão (47.3%), less than half had a formal contract.

In the classification by state, the survey showed that the highest unemployment rates were in Bahia (17.6%), Pernambuco (17.0%) and Rio de Janeiro (14.9%), while the lowest were in Santa Catarina (4.5%), Mato Grosso (5.3%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (6.5%).

Below is the unemployment rate by state:

• Bahia: 17.6%
• Pernambuco: 17%
• Rio de Janeiro: 14.9%
• Sergipe: 14.9%
• Acre: 14.8%
• Paraíba: 14.3%
• Alagoas: 14.2%
• Amapá: 14.2%
• Rio Grande do Norte: 14.1%
• Amazon: 13%
• Maranhao: 12.9%
• Federal District: 12.6%
• Piauí: 12.3%
• Pará: 12.2%
• Brazil: 11.1%
• Ceará: 11%
• São Paulo: 10.8%
• Minas Gerais: 9.3%
• Tocantins: 9.3%
• Espírito Santo: 9.2%
• Goiás: 8.9%
• Roraima: 8.8%
• Rio Grande do Sul: 7.5%
• Rondônia: 6.9%
• Paraná: 6.8%
• Mato Grosso do Sul: 6.5%
• Mato Grosso: 5.3%
• Santa Catarina: 4.5%

Average income only grows in SP

The survey also pointed out that the average real income of the worker grew 1.5% in the first quarter of this year, in relation to the quarter ended in December, reaching R$ 2,548. In the interannual comparison, however, the yield remains 8.7% lower (R$ 2,789).

Only the North (R$ 1,985) and Southeast (R$ 2,875) regions had a significant increase in average income compared to the last three months of last year.

— As for the federation units, although there was a slight increase trend in most of them, the only state that really had a statistically significant increase was São Paulo (R$ 3,107) — highlighted the coordinator of Work and Income at IBGE, Adriana Beringuy.

Source: The Globe