Brazil unemployment holds at record low before election

Brazil's unemployment rate stayed at 5.3 percent in the three months through August, the lowest level for that period since the current methodology began in 2012, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics said on September 29.

The rate has fallen from 6.1 percent in the three months through March and was unchanged from the three months through July. It was 0.3 percentage points lower than a year earlier.

IBGE said industry and construction drove job creation, with employment in those sectors up 2 percent and 4.1 percent respectively compared with the three months through May. Informal employment remained stable at 37.5 percent of the employed population.

The figures came before Brazil's October 4 first-round presidential vote, in which President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faces Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.