C 2.1. What is the current employment/unemployment situation in Brazil?
Brazils unemployment rate increased by 12.5 percent per year from 1996 until 1999, and has remained between 9 and 10 percent since 1999 (IBGE, PNAD). The unemployment rates for metropolitan areas (IBGE, PME; surveys conducted in Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, So Paulo and Porto Alegre) currently converge with the results of the PNAD (National Home Sampling Survey) (in the same regions). In November 2006, the unemployed represented 9.5 percent of the EAP (Economically Active Population). The EAP includes both formal and informal jobs, referring to people employed either way as engaged persons. The contingent of engaged persons in the same survey gained 3 percent over the same period of the previous year. Men represented 55.8 percent of the engaged population, whereas women represented 44.2 percent. The population in the 25-49 age group represented 62.9 percent of all engaged individuals. The working time of 48.4 percent of the engaged population ranges from 40 to 44 h
