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Brazil adds fewer jobs than expected in July

Brazil adds fewer jobs than expected
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The Brazilian economy added nearly 219,000 jobs in July, according to the Labor Ministry. After job figures improved for four straight months, last month’s results fell short of expectations. Analysts surveyed by the financial data company Refinitiv had expected the net creation of 260,000 jobs.

​​Year-to-date, Brazil gained 1.56 million new jobs. However, the pace of job creation is below the same period last year, at which point 1.78 million formal jobs had been added. All segments gained jobs, but the overall result was largely driven by the services sector. 

Entry-level wages, meanwhile, continue to slowly climb to BRL 1,927 (USD 381) a month. The current level of salaries remains 13 percent below April 2020 levels. 

Since the pandemic started, pay offered to new hires has consistently gone down. That trend is made worse by double-digit 12-month inflation rates.  

The data only counts formal jobs created in the country. According to the Brazilian statistics bureau IBGE, since June 2021, Brazil has gained 900,000 self-employed workers and 3.2 million unregistered workers.

Despite the “quality” of employment not being up to par, markets have consistently improved their forecasts for the economy this year. For nine straight weeks, market analysts surveyed by the Central Bank have raised GDP expectations, now at 2.1 percent.