Brazil jobless rate drops to 12.1% in three months through October

Brazil's jobless rate fell more than expected to 12.1% in the three months through October, statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, the lowest level in a year and a half. The median forecast in a Reuters poll projected an unemployment rate of 12.3%.

Brazil's jobless rate fell more than expected to 12.1% in the three months through October, statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, the lowest level in a year and a half.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll projected an unemployment rate of 12.3%. Economy Ministry officials have forecast that a rebounding labor market will strengthen the economy next year, but market economists are trimming their 2022 growth outlooks because of sharp icreases to interest rates in response to double-digit inflation.

Brazil's official unemployment rate dipped from 13.7% in the May to July period and was down 2.5 percentage points year on year. It was the lowest level for unemployment in Brazil since the 12.2% hit in the first quarter of 2020.

IBGE said that 12.9 million people were out of a job in Latin America's largest economy, 1.5 million less than in the quarter ending in July.