Number of unemployed is up 26% in seven weeks, says IBGE

After a slight retreat that interrupted four straight weeks of high, unemployment in the face of the pandemic of the new coronavirus returned to grow. This is what points out the survey released on Friday (17) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
According to IBGE, 12,428 million people were unemployed in the fourth week of June, 675,000 more than in the previous week. Compared to the first week of May, the number of unemployed in the country increased by about 2.6 million people - a 26% increase in the seven-week period.
"In relation to the first week of May, the movement is also of a drop in the employed population, an increase in the unemployed and consequently an increase in the unemployment rate. The unemployed population in search of occupation increased by 26% compared to the first week of May," said the research coordinator, Maria Lúcia Vieira.
Also according to IBGE, the level of occupation in the country stood at 48.5%, with a decrease both in comparison with the previous week (49.3%) the first week of May (49.4%).
The survey was conducted between June 21 and 27 through Pnad Covid19, a version of the National Continuous Household Sample Survey conducted with the support of the Ministry of Health to identify the impacts of the pandemic on the labor market and to quantify people with symptoms associated with flu syndrome in Brazil.
Despite also evaluating the labor market, The Pnad Covid19 is not comparable to the data of the Continuous Pnad, which is used as an official indicator of unemployment in the country, due to the methodological characteristics, which are distinct.
In the latest disclosure, Pnad Continuo showed that, between April and May, about 7.8 million jobs were closed in Brazil, reaching 12.7 million unemployed in the country. The June data will be released by IBGE on July 27.
According to IBGE, 28.4 million employed people worked informally in the fourth week of June, a number that was stable compared to the previous week. When compared to the first week of May, this quota fell by 5% - there were 29.9 million informal workers at the beginning of the survey.
IBGE considers as informal workers those employed in the private sector without a signed license, domestic workers without a license, self-employed without CNPJ and employers without CNPJ, as well as people who help relatives.
According to IBGE, it is through informality that the Brazilian labor market has been sustained. Without the creation of formal job openings, it is this way that Brazilians have managed to keep busy.
The informality rate went from 33.9% to 34.5% between the third and fourth week of June, which IBGE considers as the stability of the indicator. In comparison with the first week of May, the institute points to a decline in the rate (it was 35.7%).
The survey also showed that about 10.3 million workers were away from work in the fourth week of June due to social isolation. In the first week of May, this quota totaled 16.6 million workers. That is, with the flexibilization of quarantine in several Brazilian cities, about 6 million workers were able to resume their posts.