The annual average of workers without a signed work permit reached 12.9 million in 2022. The number is a record for the indicator since the beginning of the historical series of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), in 2012. in this situation increased by 14.9% compared to 2021, when there were 11.2 million workers without a formal contract. The data were released this Tuesday (28) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Self-employed workers – formal or informal – totaled 25.5 million in the year, up 2.6% compared to the previous year and 27.3% compared to 2012 – the lowest level in the historical series.
Informality also reached a record in absolute numbers: 38.8 million workers. IBGE researcher Adriana Beringuy said that, even so, the job market in 2022 can be viewed positively.
The employed population, for example, reached a record 98 million people, and the unemployment rate was 9.3%, the lowest rate since 2015. Workers with a formal contract also increased compared to 2021, although in a smaller proportion to those without a portfolio (9.2%). About 35.9 million people were in this situation in 2022.
The informality rate itself, which is the percentage of informal workers within the employed population, dropped from 40.1% in 2021 to 39.6% in 2022.
“Many activities have surpassed their pre-pandemic occupancy level. It is a year of consolidating the recovery from the impact that the covid pandemic had on the Brazilian and global labor market”, said Adriana Beringuy.
“Some issues we still have to monitor, such as the population outside the workforce, which has not yet managed to return to pre-pandemic levels,” he added.
The annual average number of domestic workers reached 5.8 million, an increase of 12.2% over the previous year.
Sectors
Regarding the sectors that most influenced the labor market in 2022, the highlights are the trade and services sectors. The segment of commerce, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles grew 9.4% in the year. Among services, there were relevant increases in other services (17.8%) and accommodation and food (15.8%).
According to the IBGE, the sector of agriculture, livestock, forest production, fishing and aquaculture was the only one with a percentage decrease in the employed population (1.6%).
underuse
The annual average of the compound underutilization rate was estimated at 20.8%, a decrease of 6.4 percentage points compared to 2021, when the rate was estimated at 27.2%. This indicator was 28.2% in 2020, 15.1% in 2014 and 18.4% in 2012.
The annual average of the underutilized population (unemployed people, underemployed people due to insufficient hours worked and in the potential workforce) reached 24.1 million in 2022, 23.2% less than in 2021.
Despite this drop compared to 2021, the level of underutilization is 54.7% above the 2014 level, which was 15.6 million.
The discouraged population decreased by 19.9% compared to 2021. In 2022, there were 4.3 million people in this situation, that is, they wanted to work and were available but did not look for work for various reasons, such as not finding adequate work; they had no professional experience or qualifications; they could not find work because they were considered too young or too old or there was no work in the locality.
