Brazil unemployment falls to 5.3% before election

Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to 5.3% between May and July, official data showed Thursday, reaching the lowest level for that quarter since the IBGE statistics agency adopted its current calculation method in 2012.

The rate was down from 5.6% in the same period last year. A record 103.3 million Brazilians are employed in the country of 213 million people.

The figures come ahead of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s bid for re-election in October. Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term in office and has cited low unemployment as one of his achievements.

However, 37.5% of employed Brazilians are in informal work.

Opinion polls show Lula with a narrow lead over Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.