Brazilian Jobless Rate Falls to Record Low in December
Brazil’s unemployment rate declined to a historical low in December, and came below economists’ forecast, data released by statistical office IBGE showed Thursday.
The unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in December from 5.2 percent in November. Economists had called for a jobless rate of 4.9 percent. The latest figure was the lowest recorded since the survey began in 2002. In December 2010, the unemployment rate was 5.3 percent.
The number of unemployed persons decreased 9.5 percent month-on-month to around 1.10 million in December. Year-on-year, the number of jobless declined 9.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of employed persons remained unchanged from the previous month at around 22.7 million during the month. Meanwhile, year-on-year, the number of employed increased by 1.3 percent.
In the year 2011, Brazil’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.8 percentage point from last year to 6 percent. On average, there were 1.4 million jobless persons in 2011, lower by 10.4 percent compared to the previous year, the agency said.
