Brazil's unemployment rate hits record low

Brazil says unemployment hit a record low last year at 6.7 per cent.

The government's statistics bureau says it is the lowest rate since officials began using the current methodology in 2002.

It dipped from 8.1 per cent in the previous year, when the country's economy was still affected by the global crisis.

The bureau said in a statement Thursday that the rate in December alone reached 5.3 per cent, also a record low for the month.

More than 2.5 million job posts were created last year, also the most ever since 2002.

The labour ministry says more than 15 million formal jobs were created during the two consecutive four-year terms of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who left office last year.

- AP