In 2014, unemployment was 4.3% in the country, according to IBGE (Camila Domingues / Palace Piratini / Public photos)
Brazil closed 2015 with a 6.9% unemployment rate, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The percentage is higher than in December 2014, when the unemployment rate was 4.3%. The data refers to the unemployment in the six largest metropolitan areas.
The rate of 6.9% is the highest for the month of December since 2007, when it reached 7.4%, according to IBGE. The average unemployment rate from January to December was estimated at 6.8% last year and 4.8% in 2014. This increase of two percentage points, according to the IBGE, it was the largest in the annual series research and also broke the downward trend recorded since 2010.
In 2015, the average number of unemployed was 1.7 million people, volume 42.5% higher than that recorded in 2014, when the average of people without occupation was 1.2 million. Despite the increase, the number 2015 is still lower than in 2003, when the average number of unemployed was 2.7 million people. Between 2003 and 2015, the number of people out of work fell 35.5%, equivalent to 940,000 people.
The average income of workers also fell last year. The decline between 2014 and 2015 was 5.8%, from 2,373 reais to 2,235 reais. There was a decrease in all segments calculated by the IBGE: Workers with a formal contract in the private sector (-3.3%), unregistered workers in the private sector (-5.1%), military or civil servants (-1, 8%), self employed (-4.1%) and employers (-6.2%).
