Brazil’s jobless rate drops to 10.5% in quarter through April

SAO PAULO – Brazil’s jobless rate fell to 10.5% in the three months through April, making it the lowest since early 2016, statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday.

The unemployment rate came in better than the expectation of 11.0%, according to a Reuters poll.

Brazil ended the period with 11.3 million unemployed people, 5.8% lower than the previous quarter, totaling a 25.3% decrease in the year.

The rate is the lowest since the 10.3% recorded in the three months ended in February 2016, as well as being the lowest rate for a quarter through April since 2015, when it was 8.1%.

(Reporting by Camila Moreira; Writing by Peter Frontini)