Brazil's job creation slows down in October

The Brazilian economy created fewer jobs in October, official figures showed Friday. In October, a total of 126,143 jobs were created, down 39.6 percent from September and 38.4 percent from the same time last year, according to figures released by the country's labor ministry. It is the lowest October registration since 2008, when the global financial crisis was escalating and starting to affect the Brazilian economy. In the first 10 months of 2011, Brazil generated a total of 2.24 million jobs, down 18.25 percent compared with the previous same period. Labor Minister Carlos Lupi blamed the slowing job creation on the global crisis. "The government has been taking measures to minimize the crisis impact, but the effects of these measures on the job market are not immediate, they take time," he said. The minister revised his estimate of Brazil's job creation in 2011 from 3 million to 2.4 million, lower than 2.5 million achieved in 2010.