In 2025, the Brazilian annual unemployment rate (5.6%) fell 1.0 percentage points compared to the result of 2024 (6.6%). In the fourth quarter of 2025, the rate was 5.1%, showing a significant reduction of 1.1 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year (6.2%). The data are from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD), released today (20) by the IBGE.

The highest rates in 2025 were recorded in Bahia (8.7%), Pernambuco (8.7%) and Piauí (9.3%). The lowest ones were in Mato Grosso (2.2%), Santa Catarina (2.3%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (3.0%).

Twenty Federation Units reached the lowest annual unemployment rate in the time series of the survey. They were: Bahia (8.7%), Amazonas (8.4%), Rio Grande do Norte (8.1%), Amapá (7.9%), Sergipe (7.9%), Distrito Federal (7.5%), Pará (6.8%), Maranhão (6.8%), Ceará (6.5%), Paraíba (6.0%), São Paulo (5.0%), Tocantins (4.7%), Minas Gerais (4.6%), Goiás (4.6%), Rio Grande do Sul (4.0%), Paraná (3.6%), Espírito Santo (3.3%), Mato Grosso do Sul (3.0%), Santa Catarina (2.3%) and Mato Grosso (2.2%).

“The historical low in 2025 is due to the dynamism observed in the labor market, driven by the increase in real income. However, the drop in unemployment masks structural problems: the North and Northeast maintain high informality and underutilization, highlighting low productivity jobs,” explains William Kratochwill, the survey analyst.

The annual underutilization rate for Brazil stayed at 14.5%. Piauí (31.0%) registered the highest rate, followed by Alagoas (26.8%) and Bahia (26.8%), while the lowest annual rates were in Santa Catarina (4.6%), Mato Grosso (6.8%) and Espírito Santo (7.4%).

On the other hand, the annual informality rate for Brazil was 38.1% of the employed population. The highest annual rates were in Maranhão (58.7%), Pará (58.5%) and Bahia (52.8%); and the lowest ones, in Santa Catarina (26.3%), Federal District (27.3%) and São Paulo (29.0%).

Finally, the annual value of the usual real earnings from all jobs reached R$3,560. The highest values ​​were in the Federal District (R$6,320), São Paulo (R$4,190) and Rio de Janeiro (R$4,177). The lowest values ​​were in Maranhão (R$ 2,228) and Bahia (R$ 2,284).

In the fourth quarter of 2025, unemployment falls in four Major Regions and remains stable in the North

The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 5.1%, which represents a reduction of 0.5 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2025 (5.6%). The drop was followed by four Major Regions: Northeast (from 7.8% to 7.1%), Southeast (from 5.3% to 4.8%), South (from 3.4% to 3.1%) and Central-West (from 4.4% to 3.9%). In contrast, the North region showed stability. In this comparison, the Northeast Region continued to record the highest unemployment rate among all regions (7.1%).

Compared to the previous quarter, the unemployment rate fell in six Federation Units: São Paulo (0.5 p.p.), Rio de Janeiro (0.6 p.p.), Pernambuco (1.2 p.p.), Federal District (1.3 p.p.), Paraíba (1.3 p.p.) and Ceará (1.5 p.p.), with stability in the others.

The highest unemployment rates were recorded in Pernambuco (8.8%), Amapá (8.4%), Alagoas (8.0%), Bahia (8.0%) and Piauí (8.0%); the lowest ones were in Santa Catarina (2.2%), Espírito Santo (2.4%), Mato Grosso do Sul (2.4%) and Mato Grosso (2.4%).

In Brazil, the informality rate of the employed population in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 37.6%. The highest rates were in Maranhão (57.3%), Pará (56.7%) and Amazonas (51.6%) and the lowest ones were in Santa Catarina (25.7%), Federal District (27.1%) and São Paulo (29.7%).

In the fourth quarter of 2025, 74.4% of the Brazilian persons employed in the private sector had a formal contract. The North (60.3%) and Northeast (59.6%) regions presented the lowest estimates of this indicator. Among the Federation Units, the highest percentages were in Santa Catarina (86.3%), São Paulo (82.2%) and Rio Grande do Sul (81.5%), while the lowest ones were in Maranhão (52.5%), Piauí (54.3%) and Paraíba (54.8%).

Unemployment rate for women was 6.2%, while that for men was 4.2%

The unemployment rate by sex was 4.2% for men and 6.2% for women in the fourth quarter of 2025. On the other hand, the unemployment rate by color or race was below the national average for white persons (4.0%) and above it for black (6.1%) and brown persons (5.9%).

The unemployment rate for people with incomplete secondary education (8.7%) was higher than that of other levels of schooling. For people with incomplete higher education, the rate was 5.6%, more than double that seen for those with completed higher education (2.7%).

Number of people looking for work for two years or more fell 19.6% compared to 2024

In the fourth quarter of 2025, nearly 1.1 million people were looking for a job for two years or more. This contingent fell 19.6% compared to the same quarter in 2024, when 1.3 million people were in this condition.

On the other hand, 1.1 million people had been looking for work for less than a month. This contingent fell 23.1% over the same quarter of 2024, when 1.4 million people had been looking for a job for less than a month.

Stable in other regions, average earnings grow in the North and Southeast regions

In Brazil, the usual average earnings were R$3,613 in the fourth quarter of 2024. This result showed growth both in relation to the immediately previous quarter (R$ 3,527) and in relation to the same quarter of the previous year (R$ 3,440).

In the comparison between the third quarter and the fourth quarter of 2025, the North (R$ 2,846) and Southeast (R$ 4,033) regions showed a statistically-significant increase in earnings, while the others remained stable. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, all regions showed expansion.

Estimated at R$367,551 million, the average real earnings from all jobs in Brazil grew both compared to the previous quarter (R$356,668 million) and compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 (R$345,521 million).

Regionally, the North (R$ 22,458 million), Northeast (R$ 57,770 million) and Southeast (R$ 183,170 million) regions showed a statistically-significant increase in earnings, while the others remained stable. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, all regions showed expansion.

More about the survey

The Continuous PNAD is the main instrument to monitor workforce in Brazil. The survey sample per quarter corresponds to 211 thousand households surveyed in Brazil. Nearly two thousand interviewers work in the survey in 26 states and in the Federal District, integrated into the data collection network of more than 500 IBGE branches.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the IBGE implemented data collection by telephone on March 17, 2020. In July 2021, face-to-face data collection was resumed. The id of the interviewers can be confirmed on the Answering the IBGE website or through the Call Center (0800 7218181) by checking their ID numbers, which can be requested by the informants. See PNAD data on Sidra. The next release of the Quarterly PNAD, for the first quarter of 2025, will be on May 14.