Brazil economy shed 1.5 million jobs in 2015

SAO PAULO: Brazil lost 1.5 million payroll jobs in 2015 amid a contracting economy that has led to high inflation and layoffs in the manufacturing and service sectors, the Labor Ministry said Thursday.
The ministry said that 39.7 million workers were formally employed at the end of last year, compared to 41.2 million at the end of 2014 and 40.8 million in 2013.
Labor Minister Miguel Rossetto said last year's job creation figures are the worst since they started being compiled in 1992.
Most of the lost payroll jobs were in the industrial and civil construction sectors. The only positive job creation figures were posted by the agricultural sector, where close to 10,000 new positions were opened.
Brazil's IBGE statistics bureau said last week that the jobless rate between August and October of last year came in at 9 percent, compared to 8.6 percent in the previous three-month period and 6.6 percent a year earlier.
It was the highest jobless rate since 2012.
Reacting to those figures, President Dilma Rousseff told reporters that her government was determined to lower jobless rates, saying "Unemployment is the government's biggest concern."
Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund said the recession affecting Latin America's biggest country will continue in 2016 with output contracting 3.5 percent.
There will be no growth in 2017 and economic growth should resume in 2018, the IMF said.
Meanwhile, rising food prices and bus fares pushed Brazil's annual inflation rate to a 12-year high in
mid-January, despite a severe recession which has cost more than 1.5 million jobs.
Consumer prices as measured by the IPCA-15 index rose 10.74 percent in the 12 months through
mid-January, up from 10.71 percent to mid-December and in line with market expectations, government data showed on Friday.
Brazil is set to have both the worst recession and the third-highest inflation rate among G-20 economies in 2016, according to Reuters Polls. The government, whose popularity has sunk to near record lows, has sent erratic signals about economic policy, stoking market volatility.
On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.92 percent to mid-January, down from 1.18 to mid-December.
Food prices jumped 2 percent in the month to mid-January as a strong El Nino sent heavy rainfall to many southern Brazilian states, raising the cost of carrots, tomatoes and onions by more
than 15 percent.
Bus fares also rose in many cities, including Sao Paulo and Olympic host Rio de Janeiro. The increase has fueled violent street protests, although in a smaller scale than in 2013.
Adding to the unease, Brazil's economy shed a net 1.54 million payroll jobs in 2015, the Labor Ministry said on Thursday.
Brazil's inflation soared last year after Rousseff increased taxes, energy fares and fuel prices to avert a budget crisis and prop up embattled state-controlled oil producer Petrobras.
Most Brazilians have endured bouts of hyperinflation until the creation of the real currency in 1994. Although the current spike is not nearly as severe as previous episodes of runaway inflation, it has helped erode the popularity of Rousseff struggling with a corruption scandal involving lawmakers from her Workers' Party and allied parties.
Price rises are expected to slow this year to near 7 percent, but many economists have warned about the risk of persistent pressures following a controversial central bank decision on Wednesday to hold interest rates steady.
Inflation, which has consistently overshot expectations in recent years, is targeted at 4.5 percent by the government.