SAO PAULO: Brazil’s government says unemployment in Latin America’s largest country has hit its highest level since 2012 and is rising. The nation’s statistics bureau said Tuesday that the jobless rate for the period from February through April of this year was 11.2 per cent, compared to 9.5 per cent in the previous three-month period. It was 8 per cent for the same quarter in 2015.
Unemployment has been rising because of a contracting economy that has sparked layoffs in the manufacturing and service sectors. The number of people out of work by the end of April stood at 11.4 million. That’s up 18.6 per cent from the previous three-month period.
