RIO DE JANEIRO, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in June, the lowest since December 2007, according to a monthly study of the Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

    The figure represents a small reduction from the 7.9 percent rate in May, and a sharp decrease from the 9.7 percent registered in June 2007. It was the lowest rate for June since the study began in 2002.

    The average unemployment rate for the first half of 2008 was 8.3 percent, down from the average 9.9 percent in the same period last year and the lowest first-half-year average since the study began.

    Experts said the low rate indicates that the average unemployment rate this year will be lower than the 9.3 percent average rate registered last year.

    There were 1.8 million people without a job in Brazil in June, the same as in May, and 17 percent less than in June 2007. The total employed people reached 21.7 million, slightly more than the May figure and 4.5 percent more than in June 2007.

    IBGE researched six metropolitan areas in Brazil, all of which had in June 2008 lower unemployment rates than in June 2007. Recife, in the eastern province of Pernambuco, registered the most significant reduction.

    The average monthly wage of the Brazilian workers reached 1,220 reais (762 U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2008, up 2.3 percent from the corresponding period last year and the highest since the study began.

    But the figure shows that the average monthly wage is increasing at a lower rate than in previous years, due to the rise in the inflation rate.