The unemployment rate fell once again in Brazil to 7.8% in the quarter from June to August, the lowest level since 2015, according to data released by the Brazilian Institute of Statistics (IBGE) on Friday.

This is the index’s fifth consecutive decline, calculated in overlapping quarters; it was 7.9% in the May-July period.

IBGE estimates that during this period 8.4 million people were looking for work in Latin America’s largest economy, a number reduced by 1.3 million compared to a year earlier (–13.2%).

“This is the lowest number of unemployed since the March-June 2015 quarter,” the institute said.

In the corresponding period of last year, the unemployment rate was 8.9%.

“Hiring increased in many sectors of activity, the labor market is returning to behavior typical of the period before the pandemic” of the new coronavirus, explained Adriana Berigi of IBGE.

However, the share of the informal sector also continued to grow: 39.1% of the working population is employed in it, or 38.9 million people, up from 38.9% in the previous quarter.

GDP rose by 0.9% in the second quarter, a better-than-expected performance.

The average income of Brazilian workers amounted to 2,947 heais in the period June-August (about 555 euros), increased by 4.6% on an annual basis. But inflation rose at a marginally higher rate (+4.61% in twelve months in August).

Last month, center-left President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced that the minimum wage would rise to 1,320 heais (about 250 euros).