The number of workers with a formal contract in Brazil’s private sector grew 2.6%, with the inclusion of 1 million workers, in the quarter ended in November, a record number, according to data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Pnad Contínua), released this Tuesday (30) by IBGE.
With the result, which does not include domestic workers, there are 39.4 million employees in this condition. Of this total, 13.1 million are from the public sector, also a record number, with an increase of 1.9% or more 250 thousand people in the quarter and 3.8% in the year with an additional 484 thousand people.
For the coordinator of IBGE Household Sample Surveys, Adriana Beringuy, although specifically it was not a statistically significant variation, the trajectory alone guaranteed reaching the end of this quarter with a contingent of 39.4 million people, which represents a record number for the series signed in the private sector.
“Although not significant, it has always been adding to the overall portfolio, that is, it is a movement that was sustained throughout 2024 and now for 2025”, commented a virtual interview with the press to present the Pnad Contínua data.
In the same quarter, the number of workers without a formal contract in the private sector also showed stability in the quarter and reached 13.6 million. The total represents a decline of 3.4% or less 486 thousand people in the year.
Self-employed workers reached 26 million, which is a new record in the historical series. Compared to the previous quarter, although it remained stable, the number increased by 2.9% or 734 thousand people in the year.
“Self-employment reaches the unprecedented mark of 26 million, the highest estimate in the historical series of the research. Although the quarterly variation did not occur and remained within the stable range, the continued expansion ensured that this volume of self-employed workers was reached”, he said.
Informality
The record number of workers with a formal contract in the quarter ending in November was the reason for the negative variation in the proportion of informal workers in the employed population.
The number of people in this situation was 37.7% of the employed population or 38.8 million informal workers. In the previous period ending in August it was 38.0% or 38.9 million. It is also lower than the 38.8% or 39.5 million, recorded in the quarter ending in November 2024.
The coordinator highlighted what she classified as an interesting situation, when checking how much the total employed population grew and how much of this portion of the population is informal. “The informal branch not only did not grow but also shrank. This causes the informal branch to lose strength, he pointed out.
Adriana Beringuy highlighted that a significant part of the 601 thousand workers who joined the employed population in the quarter were precisely in the segment of public administration, defense, social security, education, human health and social services, which grew 2.6%, or 492 thousand more employed people. In this segment, even though it has temporary contracts, the education sector is not considered informal and has established and guaranteed legality, explained the coordinator.
She also said that the informal segments are made up of unregistered employment in the private sector, domestic work without a formal contract, self-employed and employers without a CNPJ, and auxiliary family workers. “When we add up all these population segments, we reach the value of 38 million 817 thousand people considered employed and formal, before there were 38,878, it remained practically stable”.
In the quarter ended in August, the unemployment rate was 5.2% of the country’s workforce, or 5.6 million people looking for work, the lowest since 2012, when the Continuous Pnad historical series began. Since the quarter ending in June 2025, the indicator has successively shown the lowest rates in the series.
Income
Another record in the quarter ended in November was the usual real average income of the employed population in Brazil, which reached R$3,574, an increase of 1.8% in the quarter and 4.5% in relation to the same moving quarter of 2024, already discounting the effects of inflation.
The 5.4% increase in the average income of workers in Information, Communication and Financial, Real Estate, Professional and Administrative Activities set this record. According to Pnad Contínua, compared annually, there were gains in five activities: Agriculture and livestock (7.3%), Construction (6.7%), Information, Communication and Financial Activities (6.3%), Public administration (4.2%) and Domestic services (5.5%).
With the performance of average income and the number of workers, the usual real income bill also reached a new record. “R$363.7 billion, with increases of 2.5% (plus R$9.0 billion) in the quarter and 5.8% (plus R$19.9 billion) in the year”, informed the IBGE.
Search
According to IBGE, Pnad Contínua is the main survey on Brazil’s workforce and covers 211 thousand households, spread across 3,500 municipalities and visited every quarter. “Around two thousand interviewers work on this survey, integrated into more than 500 IBGE agencies across the country.”
