Brazil: Unemployment Rate Rises To 6.5% In Quarter Ending In January

By Vitor Abdala

Brazil’s unemployment rate stood at 6.5 percent in the quarter ending in January—up from 6.2 percent in the previous quarter (ending in October 2024). The data were released Thursday (Feb. 27) by the statistics bureau IBGE. This is the second consecutive rise in the indicator.

Despite the increase quarter-on-quarter, the rate is lower than in the quarter ending in January 2024 (7.4%).

The unemployed totaled 7.2 million in the quarter ending in January this year, up 5.3 percent (400 thousand more Brazilians) on the previous quarter. Compared to the quarter ending in January last year, the proportion fell by 13.1 percent (1.1 million fewer people).

Brazil’s employed population (103 million) was 0.6 percent lower than in the previous quarter (641 thousand fewer people) and 2.4 percent higher than in January 2024 (2.4 million more people).

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