Brazil unemployment down to 8.9%, or 9.7 mi

Unemployment in Brazil sank to 8.9 percent after a 0.9-percentage-point slip in the quarter over in August from the previous period, closed in May. The rate is at its lowest since the three-month span ended in July 2015, with 8.7 percent.

Employed people in the country added up to 99 million, once again breaking the record in the current time series, which began in 2012. In percentage terms, employment was estimated at 57.1 percent of the working-age population. The result shows progress from the previous quarter, when employment sat at 56.4 percent. It was also above the same interval last year, when it was reported at 53.4 percent.

The data can be found in the the Continuous PNAD (National Household Sample Survey), released today (Sep 30) by official statistics agency IBGE.

According to the PNAD Coordinator Adriana Beringuy, the job market is showing recovery. “The job market follows the trend shown last month, continuing the flow reported throughout the year—one of recovery,” she remarked.

Among the activities said to have most contributed to the decline in joblessness in August is commerce—up three percent from the previous quarter, bringing 566 thousand workers to the labor market.

Joblessness

The number of unemployed workers reached 9.7 million and sank to the lowest level since November 2015. The result is reported to correspond to a shrinkage of 8.8 percent, or 937 thousand fewer formal jobs in the quarterly comparison and a plunge of 30.1 percent (4.2 million fewer workers) against the same time frame last year.