August unemployment and job growth numbers in Brazil were discussed briefly in diaries here and here. The September numbers are now out, and record growth continues.
Unemployment in September 2010 fell from 6.7% to 6.2% - the lowest ever recorded. Average monthly wages increased 1.3% (inflation adjusted) to R$1,499.00 - the highest ever recorded. This at the same time that the Brazilian real is appreciating versus the American dollar.
In September 2010, 246,800 new jobs were created, bringing the total for the first nine months of 2010 to 2.2 million, far exceeding the previous annual record of 1.6 million jobs created in 2007 and shattering the "optimistic" forecasts made at the beginning of the year expecting 2 million new jobs in 2010.
More info below the fold.
This graph shows the Brazilian unemployment rate for the last 14 months.
Unemployment statistics are not seasonally adjusted, so there is always a drop in unemployment in December and a rise in January because of temporary jobs during the Christmas season. At this time last year, the unemployment rate was 7.7%.
This graph show the net number of jobs created (or lost) per year in Brazil since 1992 in millions. (The 1990s really were a "lost decade.") Note that the bar for 2010 only considers the first nine months of the year (January-September).
Recently, President Lula commented that it was interesting how the rich nations of the world (USA, Europe) used to "know everything" about the economy and forced their views and practices onto the third world, but now that they are in trouble themselves, they don't have a clue how to fix it. He completed by stating that Brazil was willing to help out if they wanted any advice!
(Regarding the upcoming run-off election on October 31, I won't even comment here. The campaign has reached a level of dirt so high that it has now passed over into farce and parody. We're talking "backwards-B-carved-into-your-face" levels of crazy. Maybe I'll work up a dairy on this in the next couple of days.)