Some 12.8 million unemployed in Brazil

Brazil’s unemployment rate in the quarter ended in June 2019 stood at 12 percent, and the country’s underutilization was reported at 24.8 percent—representing 12.8 million jobless people and 28.4 million workers who spend fewer hours at work than they could.

The indicator slipped from the previous quarter, when unemployment was 12.7 percent and underutilization 25 percent. In the same period last year, these values were 12.4 and 25.5 percent, respectively.

The figures come from the Continuous PNAD (National Household Sample Survey), published today by Brazil’s government statistics agency IBGE.

Discouraged people—those who gave up looking for a job—at a steady 4.4 percent of the workforce, a total of 4.9 million.