Brazil added a net 59,856 payroll jobs in April, its labor ministry said, marking the second month of job creation this year as the economy starts to slowly emerge from its deepest recession ever.
The job gains marked the first such rise for that month in two years. Brazilian companies typically add thousands of new positions in April, which coincides with the height of the harvest season in Latin America’s biggest economy, Reuters reported.
Nearly half of the jobs created last month were in the service sector, with the agriculture and transportation sectors posting the next biggest gains. “This is the second positive result we had have in more than a year,” said Andre Perfeito, chief economist with Gradual Investimentos in Sao Paulo. “The result clearly shows a change in trend in the job market and points to a recovery.”
More than 14 million Brazilians have lost their jobs since the country’s economic crisis started in 2014. Unemployment climbed to a record 13.7% in the first quarter of this year.
Brazil’s economy grew in the first quarter after a two-year recession, central bank data showed on Monday, signaling the recovery could be finally taking off.
Still, economists point to weak economic data in March and April as an indication the recovery could be slow and uneven. Many economists believe the mild recovery is unlikely to bring unemployment down despite hefty interest rate cuts by the central bank.
President Michel Temer, who is pushing for unpopular austerity measures to regain investors’ confidence, said the creation of new jobs showed the economy was bouncing back.
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