RIO DE JANEIRO, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer celebrated on Friday the fall in his country's unemployment rate, attributing the performance to his labor reform measures.
"My government's efforts to generate jobs are paying off, and believe me, this is just the beginning," the president said in a video distributed through the internet.
Earlier the day, the government announced unemployment rate was down from 13.7 percent in the first quarter of the year to 13 percent in the second quarter. Currently, as many as 13 million Brazilians were jobless.
Temer, whose approval rate plunged to record low of 5 percent, attributed the increase in jobs to the labor reform he recently signed into law. The changes in labor regulation, he said, is expected to generate 2 million jobs in the short term.
According to Temer, the reform, still controversial, aims at reducing unemployment by relaxing regulations and encouraging direct negotiations between employers and employees.
However, critics say, in a country where unemployment is rampant, the reform puts hirees in a precarious situation because hirers are no longer required to comply with labor laws if they can make hirees accept their own terms.
Temer's office has been using internet instead of TV to distribute the president's speeches lately, presumably to avoid protests during the transmission.
