Unemployment still affects 13.7 million Brazilians

Brazil’s unemployment rate reached 13.2 percent in the three-month period ending in August, 1.4 percentage points below the previous rolling three-month stretch, according to data released on Wednesday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). 

Some 13.7 million people are still out of work in the country, 1 percent less than August last year. Indeed, the unemployment rate declined more than expected, with median predictions of 25 consultancies and financial institutions surveyed by finance newspaper Valor suggesting a rate of 13.5 percent by the end of August.

Between June and August, 90.2 million people were employed in Brazil, roughly 3.5 million more than the three-month period that ended in May.

The number of Brazilians who are employed or looking for jobs over the age of 14 was 103.8 million in the three-month period which ended in August, 2.3 percent more than in the previous quarter (2.3 million) and 8.8 percent more than in the same quarter last year (8.4 million).

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