Brazil's unemployment rate fell to its lowest level of 4.3 percent last month despite the country's sluggish economic growth, official statistics showed Thursday.
The jobless rate for the whole of 2013 stood at 5.4 percent, its lowest level since measurements began in 2002, and slightly lower than the 5.5 percent recorded in 2012, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said.
In November, the rate reached 4.6 percent, the same level as in December 2012 which marked the previous historic low.
GDP growth in the world's seventh largest economy reached one percent in 2012, down from 2.7 percent the previous year while analysts expect a 2.3 percent expansion for 2013.
Inflation, meanwhile, rose to 5.9 percent last year, close to the upper limit of the official target set at 6.5 percent.
The monthly average wage reached $815 in December, up 3.2 percent compared with a year earlier, IBGE said.
Despite the lower unemployment rate and rising wages, the study higlighted a lingering salary gap.
Women earn 73 percent of what their male counterparts make for the same job. The racial divide is even wider with Afro-Brazilians, who make up more than half of the country's 200 million population, earning 57 percent less than whites.
The monthly survey covers only Brazil's major metropolitan areas, including Sao Paulo, Rio, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Porto Alegre.
Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level of 4.3 percent last month despite the country’s sluggish economic growth, official statistics showed Thursday.
The jobless rate for the whole of 2013 stood at 5.4 percent, its lowest level since measurements began in 2002, and slightly lower than the 5.5 percent recorded in 2012, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said.
In November, the rate reached 4.6 percent, the same level as in December 2012 which marked the previous historic low.
GDP growth in the world’s seventh largest economy reached one percent in 2012, down from 2.7 percent the previous year while analysts expect a 2.3 percent expansion for 2013.
Inflation, meanwhile, rose to 5.9 percent last year, close to the upper limit of the official target set at 6.5 percent.
The monthly average wage reached $815 in December, up 3.2 percent compared with a year earlier, IBGE said.
Despite the lower unemployment rate and rising wages, the study higlighted a lingering salary gap.
Women earn 73 percent of what their male counterparts make for the same job. The racial divide is even wider with Afro-Brazilians, who make up more than half of the country’s 200 million population, earning 57 percent less than whites.
The monthly survey covers only Brazil’s major metropolitan areas, including Sao Paulo, Rio, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Porto Alegre.
