BRASILIA: Unemployment in Latin America’s largest economy climbed to 8.1 percent during the March-May rolling quarter, the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics, or IBGE said.
The jobless rate was 7.4 percent for the three months ending Feb. 28.
The ranks of the officially unemployed grew to 8.2 million in the March-May period, while the number of people with formal jobs held steady at around 92 million, the IBGE said.
The figures are based on data from the National Sample of Households Study, known as PNAD, a new, more rigorous measure of unemployment built on recommendations from the International Labor Organization.
For the moment, the IBGE continues to release statistics derived from the traditional method, which reflects employment conditions in the country’s six largest metropolitan areas: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife and Porto Alegre.
PNAD will become Brazil’s benchmark measure of unemployment by the end of this year.
Growth in unemployment coincides with austerity measures adopted by the government of President Dilma Rousseff after 2014 ended with the first primary budget deficit in 13 years.
The austerity program, which has yet to be fully approved by Congress, features spending cuts and tax hikes, including an increase in payroll levies.
Brazil’s economy is expected to shrink by at least 1 percent this year, while inflation could reach 9 percent.
