Brazil's unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in three years in June, declining to 9.4 percent from 10.2 percent in May, official data showed on Thursday. The jobless rate has fallen during the last two months despite recent interest rate rises designed to slow inflation and trim economic growth. In June, joblessness often declines as some people stop looking for work ahead of the holiday season.
The June result was the lowest since the government's statistics agency IBGE introduced the current jobless survey in March 2002. It could help reduce pressure on President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose government has said a deepening bribes-for-votes scandal will not hurt the economy.
Five economists surveyed by Reuters on average expected a result of 10.1 percent for June. In May, the jobless rate dropped for the first time this year, falling to 10.2 percent from 10.8 percent in April.
"The (June) result can be explained by the reduction of the number of people looking for work and stability in the number of people working," the IBGE said in a statement.
Comments
Comments are closed.