Brasilia, May 2 (ANI) — The administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday welcomed new labour-market data showing Brazil recorded its lowest-ever unemployment rate for the first quarter, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reported.
Based on the Continuous PNAD survey, the unemployment rate for the quarter ending in March was 6.1%. That is a 0.9 percentage-point drop from the same period in 2025, when unemployment was 7.0% and marked the previous record low for a first quarter, underscoring continued labour-market recovery under the current government.
Total real wages paid reached BRL 374.8 billion, a record for the period and up 7.1% year-on-year, adding BRL 24.8 billion to the economy. Average real income also hit a record BRL 3,722. Adjusted for inflation, income rose 1.6% quarter-on-quarter and 5.5% year-on-year.
Informal employment declined to 37.3% of the employed population, equivalent to about 38.1 million workers, down from 37.6% in the previous quarter and 38.0% a year earlier. Formal employment expanded: private-sector employees with formal contracts (excluding domestic workers) increased 1.3% year-on-year, adding some 504,000 jobs to reach 39.2 million. Workers without formal contracts fell 2.1% in the quarter, a reduction of roughly 285,000, to total about 13.3 million.
By sector, employment rose 3.2% in information, communication, financial, real estate, professional and administrative activities (around +406,000 workers) and 4.8% in public administration (+860,000). Domestic services contracted 3.6% (-202,000). The number of self-employed workers held near 26 million in the quarter but grew 2.4% year-on-year (+607,000).
Data were published by IBGE and reported by Brazil 247. This item is sourced from a syndicated feed and published as received.
