Job Market in Pernambuco tries to rebalance

In recent weeks, the Government of Pernambuco announced private investments that, together, promise the generation of new 62 thousand direct and indirect jobs in the coming years. The numbers are encouraging, given a still discouraging scenario for the Pernambuco labor market. According to data from the General Register of Employed and Unemployed Persons (Caged), released this Tuesday (30), by the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), in March, the State recorded a positive balance of jobs, with 1,364 new jobs. signed, being the best result for the month since 2020. On the other hand, data from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) is a cold shower for this May 1st – date in which Labor Day is celebrated: Pernambuco still has the third highest unemployment rate in the country, at 11.9% – second only to the states of Amapá (14.2%) and Bahia (12.7%).

The index is even higher when compared to the national scenario, where the unemployment rate is 7.9%. In this abyss, Pernambuco continues to try to rebalance the labor market, which was already at the top of the full employment ranking during the works of the Abreu e Lima Refinery and the Atlântico Sul Shipyard, both in the Suape Complex, at the beginning of the last decade.

Rosângela Maria da Conceição, 54 years old, knows well what it is like to look for a job with a formal contract. For two months she has been looking for opportunities in the areas of administration and customer service. “I’m not finding. My desire now is to pursue entrepreneurship,” she says, a little disconsolately.

The same difficulty is reported by Leonildo Luiz de Lima, 48 years old, who has been looking for a job for 4 months. “I’ve worked in different areas as a security guard, doorman, building painter and gardener, but it’s difficult. There’s even no money to invest in recycling,” he comments.

Given the scenario, the Secretary of Professional Development and Entrepreneurship of Pernambuco (Sedepe), Amanda Aires, explains that the recovery of the job market has been slow, because the State is recovering from a historical series of negative balances in the creation of new jobs. formal, precisely because of the demobilization of those works that, years ago, boosted the development of Pernambuco. “The (unemployment) rate is still high, but there is something being done to make it fall systematically, the numbers already show that there is a tendency for improvement”, she points out.

Secretary of Professional Development and Entrepreneurship of Pernambuco (Sedepe), Amanda Aires (Credit: Marina Torres/DP Foto)

Amanda says that one of the solutions to revive the job market in the State is the qualification of the workforce, that is, the recycling that Leonildo had been waiting for. “We have open positions, but there is not always a worker with the appropriate training to achieve them. We have been carrying out professional qualification work, focused on young workers, the Youth Qualification Day and now, for worker’s month, we will have more qualifications aimed at formalized entrepreneurship and the world of work”, she promises.

According to Sedepe, the path appears promising. The total number of jobs created in the first three months of this year reached 5,709, an increase of 125.5% compared to 2023, when the State obtained 2,532 new formal vacancies.

“The recovery trend is promising, but it is important to monitor closely to assess the sustainability of this growth”, considers economist David Batista.

Pernambuco still records 258 thousand discouraged people

In the last quarter of 2023, the State registered a total of 258 thousand discouraged people, that is, those who want to work, but who gave up looking because they no longer had any hope of entering the job market. According to the Secretariat of Professional Development and Entrepreneurship, in the same period of 2022, this number was 293 thousand people.

In Brazil, according to IBGE’s Continuous PNAD, among the population of 93.6 million they are part of the discouraged population in the first half of 2024. This value grew 8.7% (293 thousand more people) compared to the previous quarter and fell 7.5% (299 thousand people less) in the year.

“I’ve been looking for an opportunity for 4 years, but it’s difficult. I developed depression because of this and, therefore, I decided to stop and take care of my mental health. Today, I do odd jobs taking care of pets and selling snacks at events to have some income”, reports Fernando, whose last formal job was in 2019, as a supermarket cashier, precisely because he could not find a job in his area of ​​training.

According to economist Sandro Prado, even with the increase in the number of jobs in the State, it is important to recognize that the persistence of the discouraged is still an obstacle. “It is imperative that policies and strategies are implemented to reverse this trend and reintegrate these individuals into the labor market in an effective and sustainable way, aiming not only to reduce the unemployment rate, but also to promote decent and productive employment opportunities for all the citizens of Pernambuco”, he states.