Brazil’s unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in the moving quarter ended March 2026, up from 5.8% in the previous quarter and in line with market expectations. Despite the increase, it is still the lowest unemployment rate on record for a quarter ending in March since the series began in 2012.
The number of unemployed people grew 19.6% in the quarter, reaching 6.6 million. Employment declined by 2.5% in the public sector and 1.0% in the private sector. The employment-to-population ratio stood at 58.2%, down 0.7 percentage point over the quarter. On an annual basis, however, the unemployed population fell by 13.0%.
