MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sharp fall in unemployment in Brazil

Marinho said that high interest rates have contributed to the slowdown in job creation

According to the latest issue of Brazil's Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Household Sample Survey, unemployment stood at 6.2% in the quarter ending last month, Agencia Brasil reported. It was the lowest mark since the measurement began being tracked in 2012. The previous quarter, ending in July, had a rate of 6.8%, while in the same quarter last year, ending in October, the rate stood at 7.6%.

The employed population, totaling 103.6 million, also reached a record high, 1.5% higher than the average for the quarter ending in July and 3.4% higher than the one ending in October.

The unemployed population fell to 6.8 million, representing an 8% decrease (591,000 fewer people) compared to the previous quarter and a 17.2% drop from October 2023 (1.4 million fewer people). This is the lowest number of unemployed individuals since the quarter ending in December 2014.

Formal job creation fell in October. According to the Labor Ministry's Employment's General Register of Employed and Unemployed (Caged), 132,714 formal jobs were created last month. The indicator measures the difference between hiring and firing.

Job creation fell by 30.3% compared to the same month last year. In October 2023, 190,366 jobs were created, according to adjusted data that includes late employer declarations.

In the first ten months of the year, 2,117,473 jobs were created, an 18.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

The accumulated result is the highest since 2022 when 2,341,665 jobs were created between January and October.

Labor Minister Luiz Marinho said that high interest rates have contributed to the slowdown in job creation. “I hope that the transition at the Central Bank will help address this in time. I believe the Central Bank has not been collaborative during this period, failing to fully analyze macroeconomic indicators and assist in decision-making to sustain growth. This resulted in a slowdown [in job creation].”