Brazil unemployment falls to 5.4% in rolling quarter through June 2026, lowest since January

Joblessness matched expectations as unemployment and labor underutilization declined, total employment reached a record 103.1 million, and real monthly earnings were flat.

27d ago

Fact Check

The Trading Economics report 'Turkish June Jobless Rate Falls to Record Low' confirms every quantitative element of the claim: 7.6% seasonally adjusted rate in June 2026, decline from a revised 8.1% in May, a fall of 168,000 in the number of unemployed, and rising employment and employment rate. These figures derive from TurkStat's Household Labour Force Survey. The primary TurkStat bulletin was not yet indexed for verification, so confidence is medium rather than high, but the corroboration is strong and internally consistent.

Summary

Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in the rolling quarter ending in June 2026 from 6.1% in the previous rolling quarter, matching market expectations and marking the lowest reading since January. The number of unemployed people dropped 10.9% to 5.9 million. The broader labor underutilization rate declined to 12.9% from 14.3%, while the number of underemployed workers fell 6.6% to 4.1 million, pointing to a wider improvement beyond the headline jobless rate. Total employment rose 1.1% to a record 103.1 million people, lifting the employment rate to 58.8% from 58.2%. Job gains were concentrated in transportation, storage and postal services, which grew 3.9%, and in public administration, education and health services, up 2.6%. Average real monthly earnings were unchanged from the previous quarter at BRL 3,738.

Terms & Concepts

labor underutilization rate: A broader measure of labor market slack that includes unemployed and underused workers beyond the headline unemployment rate.
underemployed workers: People who are working less than they would like or less than their labor capacity would allow.