Brazil's unemployment falls to 6.4% in July-September period

Figure is second lowest for a quarter since 2012, with employed population reaching new record of 103M, says statistical agency

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Brazil's unemployment rate fell to 6.4% in the July-September period, according to data released Thursday by the Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

This marks the second lowest unemployment rate for a quarter since 2012, only after the quarter that ended in December 2013, the IBGE said in a statement.

While the figure managed to come lower than market estimates of 6.5%, it is down a massive 0.5 percentage points from 6.9% in the preceding quarter of April-June.

Annually, the latest figure represents a 1.3 percentage point decrease from the July-September period of last year when it was 7.7%.

The number of unemployed people stood at 7 million in the three-month period ending in September, a decrease of 541,000 from the previous quarter, the IBGE reported.

On an annual basis, the figure is 1.3 million people, or 15.8% less from the same quarter of last year.

That also marked the lowest number of unemployed people since the quarter ended in January 2015.

The employed population reached 103 million in the July-September period, setting a new record in the series that began in 2012.

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