ISTANBUL

Brazil's unemployment rate rose to 8.6% during the December-February period, according to data released Friday by the Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

The figure is a 0.5 percentage point increase from the preceding three-month period of September-November 2022 when it stood at 8.1%.

It, however, came lower than the market estimates of 8.8%.

In the December-February period, the unemployed population stood at 9.2 million, rising 5.5%, or 483,000, from the previous quarter.

On an annual basis, the figure dropped 23.2%, or 2.8 million, from the same period of previous year.

The number of employed people fell to 98.1 million -- a decline of 1.6%, or 1.6 million people, compared to the previous quarter.