Brazil’s jobless rate has reached its lowest since 2016. This news will provide a boost to President Jair Bolsonaro as he begins his second year in office, looking to push a series of market reforms. The forecast for foreign investment is also high for 2020.
Unemployment:
Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to 11.0% in the three months through December according statistics agency IBGE. These figures are a record low in four years which show further evidence and signs that the labor market is improving.
This was down from 11.2% in the three months to November, exactly line with the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, and will likely be welcomed by policymakers as another indication the economy is moving in the right direction.
The number of Brazilians out of work in the three months to December was 11.6 million, down 883,000 people or 7.1% from the preceding quarter, IBGE said. Compared with the same period in 2018, the number of people out of work fell by 520,000, or 4.3%.
Underemployment:
The underemployment rate of 25% earlier this year decreased by 1.1 percentage points to 23.0% from the preceding quarter due to the creation of 356,000 new jobs. It also was 0.8 percentage points down from the same period the year before, IBGE said.
The average worker income increased in 2019 by 0,4% (to 2,330 reais) in comparison with 2018. Moreover, the number of self-employed remained stable at 24.6 million
(Source: Reuters)
