Brazil’s Labor Ministry released its formal net jobs creation data on Tuesday, showing a net gain of 159,454 jobs for the month of October. This is below analysts’ expectations, with a Reuters poll of economists forecasting a net gain of 238,000 jobs.
In addition to falling short of expectations, this result also led to a 37% decline in job creation for October on a year-on-year basis when compared to October 2021.
Despite the disappointing performance, Brazil has managed to record a positive balance of job creation compared to unemployment every month of the year to date. So far, net job creation in Brazil over the course of 2022 stands at 2.32 million.
The curbing of hiring practices across the country in October is largely attributed to the investments of Brazilian companies struggling to perform consistently. This is largely due to the country’s rising borrowing costs as well as the tightening of monetary policy in response to inflation.
Although private economists have projected Brazil’s GDP to rise by 2.81% this year, they largely expect it to shrink down to a 0.7% growth rate in 2023.