Brazil unemployment rate remains at record low in Sep, likely to rise in coming months

The unemployment rate in Brazil remained at a record low during the month of September, unchanged from the three months through August. Also, it is expected to continue rising in the coming months amid the country's worst downturn in at least eight decades, high-interest rates and a political crisis.

Brazil’s national unemployment rate of 11.8 percent was unchanged from the three months through August, data released by statistics agency IBGE showed Thursday. The median forecast in a Reuters poll projected an unemployment rate of 11.9 percent.

Further, wages, discounted for inflation fell 2.1 percent in the three months through September compared with the same period a year earlier, to 2,015 reais (USD640.30).

Brazil Ministry of Labor said that the country shed a net 39,282 payroll jobs in September, compared with 33,953 job cuts in August and 95,602 in September 2015. Economists had expected payroll jobs to decrease by 16,000 in September, according to the median forecast in a Reuters poll.

Meanwhile, economists expect joblessness to keep rising in coming months, weighing on consumption and complicating policymakers' efforts to restore economic growth, Reuters reported.