Brazil is living a period of full employment, with unemployment rates at a historic low of 5.6% in July, with over 102 million Brazilians being employed.

This result was achieved in a moment where informality dropped to its lowest and average wages rose, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), gathered by Bruno Imaizumi, an economist of 4intelligence, at EXAME’s request.

Economists pinpoint this resilience of the job market in the last few years as one of the aspects for the growth in Brazilian economic activity, which surpassed the expectations of market agents.

The survey compares the quarter, which ended in July 2025, with the same period of 2019, pre-pandemic, when unemployment rates reached 12% - during that period, the country was going through an economic crisis since 2015.

The significant change in these last six years is in the composition of the employed population. Data shows that the participation of formal workers rose from 59% to 62.2%, an increase of 3.2%.

This data contrasts with an alleged aversion to registered employment, a narrative that went viral on social media in the last couple of years, mainly among the youth.

At the same time, informal employment dropped from 41% to 37.8%, reaching its lowest level when pandemic-induced drops are excluded.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, with social distancing measures in place, unemployment skyrocketed, and informality reached its all-time high.

In general numbers, Brazil has 63.6 million people in formal employment, an 8 million high in six years. From this total, 39.1 million work for private firms in registered employment, the highest level since 2012.

Regarding informal workers, there are 38.7 million, an increase of 676,000 people since 2019.  25 million Brazilians are self-employed.

The data also shows that there has been an increase in workers in the public sector. According to the 4intelligence economist, this is due to the cash reinforcement in municipalities, which were able to increase their spending on hiring people.

There was also a drop registered in autonomous workers who lack a CNPJ [a register in the national database of companies] in the last few years, such as entrepreneurs or service providers without a company. The study shows that, by contrast, the number of autonomous workers with CNPJ has increased by virtually the same.

“There has been digitalization and a reduction of bureaucracy in public services, such as in the opening of firms, which has allowed for an increase in autonomous workers with CNPJ”, states.

The number of unemployed population dropped to 6.1 million, the lowest contingent since the last quarter of 2013 (6.1 million). The level of occupation (percent of occupied people in employment age in the population) has kept its record levels: 58.8%.

Worker income peaks

The cause of this period, according to Imaizumi, is a larger average income for workers, considering that formal salary tends to be bigger than its informal counterpart.

The average adequate worker income reached R$3,392 in the second quarter of this year. In the first, it reached R$3.665, the most significant amount since 2012. In July 2019, the value was at R$3.081, which represents an increase of 18.95%, but still below the cumulative inflation of the last 4 years of 40.61%.

According to 4intelligence, the period of bigger earnings is explained primarily by the readjustment of the minimum wage above inflation.

In addition, salary adjustments from collective bargaining agreements registered by the Ministry of Labor and Employment's Mediator system are also a relevant point.

Data from July 2025, collected by Dieese, showed that 76.4% of salary adjustments in collective agreements and negotiations were above the accumulated INPC (National Consumer Price Index) over 12 months, a result below that of June 2025 (83.1%), but above that of July last year (69.1%). In the accumulated total for 2025, 78.7% of salary adjustments were above the INPC.

The economist assesses that incomes will continue to show a positive trajectory in 2025 and 2026, which will help keep the total revenue earned through work at record levels.

The impact will materialize in the sustained consumption of households throughout this year, which will keep the economy buoyant, even at a time when interest rates are at 15% per annum.

4intelligence projects that the unemployment rate will continue to fall in the coming months. The expectation for August, for example, is a rate of 5.5%, which will represent a new historic low.

The consultancy reinforces that, in the last 12 months, the market has underestimated unemployment levels by approximately 0.9%.

Post-pandemic, the number of agribusiness workers drops

Besides changes in type of employment and income, another observed change was the drop in the number of workers in the agricultural sector between 2019 and 2025.

The sector has lost 745,000 workers and decreased its contribution to the total workforce per sector from 9.2% to 7.6%.

Imaizumi affirms that the exodus of youth from rural regions, the reduction in family farms, and the increase in mechanization explain the drop, which was the only relevant one in this group.

On the other hand, the study shows that the sectors of healthcare and technology have seen the most significant worker growth in the post-pandemic.