Brazil’s economy shed a net 111,199 payroll jobs in June, the labor ministry said on Friday, as Latin America’s largest country heads towards a prolonged recession, Reuters reported. Brazilian companies were expected to have fired a net 98,000 workers in June, according to the median forecast of 13 economists. Brazil lost 115,599 jobs in May. Brazil’s job market is getting worse as data suggests. Year-to-date, 389,533 jobs were eliminated versus the creation of 493,118 jobs in the same period of 2014. In seasonally adjusted terms, today’s print is close to the historical low of 161,275 cuts in May. The commerce sector shed 191,000 jobs last month, with the processing industry shutting down around 65,000 positions in just four weeks. The Petrobras scandal has the oil firm’s privately held construction partners in a tailspin. More layoffs occurred last month. Over 45,000 civil engineers and low skilled construction laborers are out of work. At least two construction partners of Petrobras have filed for bankruptcy protection.
