国际英语新闻：Brazil's unemployment rate drops to 6.7% in August

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The unemployment rate in Brazil dropped to 6.7 percent in August, compared to 8.1 percent in the same period last year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) announced Thursday.

The unemployment rate was 6.9 percent in July and the average unemployment rate in the first eight months this year dropped to 7.2 percent from 8.5 percent in 2009.

The Brazilian economy is now growing at the same pace as that registered two years ago before the international financial crisis struck, according to IBGE researcher Cimar Azeredo.

"The survey shows a significant improvement in the job market in 2010, showing that Brazil has left the crisis behind," he said.

Meanwhile, the average monthly income earned by Brazilian workers registered the third consecutive increase in August, reaching 1,472 reais (860 U.S. dollars), up 1.4 percent from July and 5.5 percent from the same period in 2009.

The per capita household income totaled 971 reais (567 dollars), up 1.4 percent from July and 6.9 percent from the same period last year.