RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since 2012 in the most recent quarter, official figures showed.
The unemployment rate dropped to 6.2 per cent in the August-October period, the IBGE national statistics agency reported, bringing some good news to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva amid recent market jitters over his handling of Latin America’s largest economy.
An IBGE statement said the rate was the lowest since the January-March quarter in 2012, the year the agency adopted its current method of calculating unemployment.
The working population also broke a new record, reaching 103.6 million, while the unemployment rate fell by 1.4 percentage points year-on-year.
An uptick in hiring in the industrial and civil construction sectors were particularly impactful, the IGBE said.
A sizable portion the population – 40.3 million people – were however working in the informal economy, the agency said, while noting that the increase in average monthly income had failed to keep up with inflation.
Nonetheless, the drop in unemployment will be welcome news for Lula’s government, as it continues to contend with market worries over its economic policies.
Brazil’s currency depreciated sharply on Thursday, reaching BRL6 to the US dollar for the first time, after the government announced a near-USD12 billion cut in public spending for 2025 and 2026 to meet its deficit reduction goals.
The announcement of budget cuts had been expected by the markets for weeks, but it was accompanied by a tax reduction for middle-income Brazilians as a cushioning measure.
