The momentum has been strong enough to raise imports in January-August to US$14.04bn, or 78% more than a year earlier (while exports rose 13% to US$22.5bn, ensuring that the balance remained in surplus).
BRAZIL | Social cost of Lula's first year. Ibge's household survey shows that during President Lula da Silva's first year in office the average unemployment rate rose from 9.2% to 9.7%, and that at the same time workers' real incomes fell by 7.3% - the biggest decline since 1987. 'Adjustments in economic policy, including the elevation of interest rates, contributed to the deceleration of the economy in 2003,' says the report, 'and intensified the real loss of income.' Only 55.4% of people in working age were employed, and of those only 46.4% enjoyed social-security cover.
Another outcome was that the disparity in earnings narrowed in 2003: only 1.3% of workers earned more than US$1,740 a month, while 27.8% earned US$87 or less.
CHILE | Unemployment reaches critical threshold. Open unemployment in June-August edged up to 9.9%, virtually touching the politically critical 10% threshold: job creation has been unable to keep up with the increase of entrants to the jobs market. A worrying sign is that the number of people who have giving up looking for jobs has increased by 1.4% since the previous running quarter. In the metropolitan area of Santiago, home to 40% of the population, open unemployment has reached 10.3%.
End of preview - This article contains approximately 325 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
