Weekly Report - 25 February 2016 (WR-16-08)

BRAZIL | Unemployment up. On 19 February Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) produced its latest unemployment statistics, showing that the jobless rate rose to 9% in November 2015. Almost all sectors of Brazil’s economy saw job losses. The industrial sector cut 2.9% of its posts; agriculture 2.5%; information technology, communications and financial services saw a fall of 6.7%. Only construction, up 6.1%, and domestic services (maids, cleaners etc.), up 4.7%, saw positive growth. A total of 9.1m Brazilians are now unemployed, for those in work, the average salary fell in 2015 compared with 2014. Added to this is the impact of inflation, currently running at 10.7%.