Brazil unemployment rate, 1991 to 2025
Brazil unemployment rate stood at 5.97% in 2025, down 0.8pp on the previous period.
6 percent of Brazil's labor force was unemployed in 2025, against 6.8 percent in 2024. Over the window shown the rate has run between 6 percent (2025) and 13.7 percent (2020).
How it is measured
The figures come from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (indicator SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS), using the International Labour Organization's definition: a person is unemployed if they are without work, available to start, and actively looking. The denominator is the labor force (the employed plus the unemployed), not the whole population. These are ILO modeled estimates, harmonized so countries with different national surveys can be compared, which is why the figure can differ slightly from the rate a national statistics office publishes.
What the curve shows
Unemployment is the most human of the macro series: each point of it is people looking for work and not finding it. The peak in this window came in 2020 at 13.7 percent (the pandemic year), the low in 2025 at 6 percent. The definition's edges matter when reading it: someone who gives up searching leaves the labor force and stops counting, so the rate can improve while the share of adults actually working does not.
Who counts as unemployed?
Why does this differ from the national headline rate?
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