Result was below what financial agents expected; it was the lowest number for the month since 2023
Brazil registered the creation of 255,321 formal jobs in February, announced this Tuesday (31.mar.2026) by the Ministry of Labor and Employment. This was the smallest increase for the month since 2023, when it reached 252,480. The statistics are from Caged (General Register of Employed and Unemployed).
The projections of financial agents obtained by Poder360 indicated that the balance of formal jobs would be 260 thousand to 270.3 thousand in February. The result is below estimates. The job market shows signs of heating up in Brazil despite the Central Bank’s contractionary monetary policy.
The basic rate, Selic, remained from June 2025 to March 2026 at 15% per year. At the last meeting, the Copom (Monetary Policy Committee) reduced the base interest rate to 14.75% per year and signaled that the cuts may be smaller than previously predicted because of the war in the Middle East.
Caged showed that job creation in February fell 42% compared to the same month last year, when it totaled 440,432. The balance of 255,321 was formed by 2,381,767 admissions against 2,126,446 dismissals in February.
The stock of formal jobs in Brazil rose to 48.8 million. It was 48.6 million in January and 47.8 million in February 2025. In absolute numbers, the number of positions with a formal contract increased by 1.05 million in 12 months.
The services sector was the one that hired the most in February. There were 177,953 new jobs, or 70% of the entire month’s balance. Read the month breakdown:
1ST BIMESTER
Brazil created 370,339 jobs with a formal contract in the first two months of this year. This was the lowest value for the period since 2023, when it totaled 342,591.
The number fell 37.8% compared to the same period last year, when there were 594,953 jobs created.
The positive balance was mainly impacted by the services sector.
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
The Ministry of Labor and Employment said the number of unemployment insurance claims fell from 656,800 in February 2025 to 636,500 last month.
