Brazil’s unemployment rate went up from 10.2% in January to 10.6% in February, the same rate registered last November. This result, however, is 1.4% down when compared to February 2004, when unemployment reached 12% of the economically active population.
The numbers announced by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) indicate that the population without regular jobs increased 5% from January to February.
There were 2.3 million unemployed individuals in the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and Porto Alegre.
In February, average income was US$ 340,59 (932,90 reais), 1% higher than January’s, and 2.6% higher than that of February of last year.
The number of workers with formal jobs rose 1.5% from January to February, and 5.9% when compared to the same period of last year.
ABr