Unemployment in Brazil jumped to the highest since September 2007 as companies laid off workers and a sharp slowdown in Latin America's largest economy made it harder for people to find jobs. The jobless rate rose to 9 percent in March from 8.5 percent in February, the highest in 17 months, national statistics agency IBGE said on Friday.
The unemployment rate was slightly lower than the 9.1 percent median forecast of 19 economists surveyed by Reuters. The estimates ranged from 8.7 percent to 9.5 percent. The number of people working in the six metropolitan areas surveyed by the IBGE was virtually unchanged in March from April at 20.5 million.