Brazil's unemployment falls to 7.5% in February-April period

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Brazil's unemployment rate fell to 7.5% in the February-April period, according to data released Wednesday by the Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

This was the lowest unemployment rate for a quarter ending in April since 2014 when it was 7.2%, IBGE said in a statement.

The market expectation for the figure was to come in at 7.7%, while the unemployment rate in the South American economy stood at 7.9% in the January-March period.

The latest figure is a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the preceding three-month period when it stood at 7.6% during the November-January period.

On an annual basis, the latest figure is a significant decline from 8.5% which was seen in the February-April period of 2023.

The unemployed population stood at 8.2 million in the three-month period ending in April, which is a decrease of 882,000 people from the same period of 2023, said IBGE.