According to the Monthly Employment and Unemployment Estimates from the National Statistics Institute (INE), the unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point compared to September, when the unemployment level reached 6% of the active population.

With the improvement in the labour market, the unemployed population decreased from 336,400 in September to 329,100, representing a decrease both compared to the previous month (by 7,300 people), and compared to three months earlier (by 4,000 people), or even compared to October 2024 (by 30,200 people), according to the IBGE.

The unemployment rate in October, at 5.9%, is also lower "than in the same month of the previous year" (by 0.1 percentage point), remaining "identical to that of three months prior," says the institute.

In October, "the unemployment rate for women (6.6%) exceeded that of men (5.2%) by 1.4 percentage points, the latter corresponding to the lowest rate in the last 10 years," indicates the INE (National Institute of Statistics).

Both the unemployment rate for adults (25 to 74 years old) and the unemployment rate for young people (16 to 24 years old) registered a decrease. The adult rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point compared to September, reaching 5.0%, and the youth unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points, standing at 18.3%.

Active population

The active population decreased by 19,900 people compared to September, reaching 5.6 million (5,608,500), but increased compared to July of this year (by 10,300) and compared to the same period last year (by 140,900).

The total employed population reached 5.2 million in October (5,279,400), decreasing compared to the previous month (by 12,600 people) and increasing compared to three months earlier (by 14,300) and to the same month last year (by 171,000).

In addition to registering a drop in the unemployment rate, there was also a decrease in the labour underutilization rate, which fell to 10.1%, 0.1 percentage point below the September percentage (10.2%).

This indicator is released by INE in addition to the unemployment rate to reflect the levels of labour underutilization.

To this end, in addition to the unemployed population, it counts underemployment situations among part-time workers, inactive workers who sought employment in the four weeks prior to the INE survey but were not available to start working in the following two weeks, and also inactive workers available to work in the following two weeks but who did not seek employment in the last four weeks.

In total, INE counted 579,400 people as being in a situation of underutilization of labour in October.

According to previous INE data, released on November 5th, the unemployment rate for the third quarter (July to September) was 5.8%.