Latinnews Daily - 30 January 2008

REGION: Panama is the Latin American country that most reduced its unemployment rate in 2007, from 10.4% of the working population to 7.7%. Argentina came second (from 10.7% to 8.8%), followed by Uruguay (from 11.9% to 10%), Venezuela (10.5% to 9%), Chile (8.4% to 7.1%), Colombia (13.2% to 12%), Costa Rica (6% to 4.8%), Brazil (10.2% to 9.7%), Ecuador (10.3% to 9.8%) and then Peru (8.8% to 8.7%). Mexico's the unemployment rate, although the lowest in the region, increased in 2007 from 3.6% to 3.8%.