BRASILIA, JULY 28, 2016 – Brazil’s labour market shed over 530,000 jobs in the first half of 2016, the worst since such statistics began in 2002, said the General Labour Registry on Thursday.Labour Minister Ronaldo Nogueira told a press conference in Brasilia, that in June alone, 91,000 jobs were lost, a drop for the 15th straight month.
Nogueira added that from June 2015 to June 2016, Brazil lost 1.765 million jobs.
The steady loss of jobs is linked to the strong recession dragging down the Brazilian economy, which contracted by 3.8 per cent in 2015 and is expected to shrink by 3.1 per cent in 2016.
“The economy is in a slow process of recovery, month after month, the negative rate of job losses is shrinking.
“If we compare this June to June 2015, we can celebrate,’’ Nogueira said, recalling that the country lost 111,200 jobs in June 2015.
The minister said that commerce has been hardly hit, losing 254,000 jobs in 2016 so far.
He added that manufacturing has shed 140,000 jobs; the services sector lost 124,000 jobs and construction 114,000 jobs.
Nogueira noted that the agricultural sector registered the biggest gain of 90,000 jobs, followed by public administration, which added 18,000 people to the payroll.
