Brazil loses over half million jobs in first half of 2016
Xinhua, July 28, 2016 Adjust font size:
Brazil's labor market shed more than 530,000 jobs in the first half of 2016, the worst since such statistics began in 2002, said the General Labor Registry on Wednesday.
In June alone, 91,000 jobs were lost, a drop for the 15th straight month.
From June 2015 to June 2016, Brazil lost 1.765 million jobs.
The steady loss of jobs is linked to the strong recession dragging down the Brazilian economy, which contracted by 3.8 percent in 2015 and is expected to shrink by 3.1 percent in 2016.
"The economy is in a slow process of recovery. Month after month, the negative rate of job losses is shrinking. If we compare this June to June 2015, we can celebrate," Labor Minister Ronaldo Nogueira told a press conference, recalling that the country lost 111,200 jobs in June 2015.
Commerce has been hardly hit, losing 254,000 jobs in 2016 so far. Manufacturing has shed 140,000 jobs, the services sector lost 124,000 jobs and construction 114,000 jobs.
The agricultural sector registered the biggest gain of 90,000 jobs, followed by public administration, which added 18,000 people to the payroll. Endi