The Brazilian economy generated 921,640 formal jobs in the first half of this year, the Ministry of Labor and Employment reported this Wednesday (29). The number represents a 25% drop compared to the same period in 2025, when 1.23 million formal jobs were opened. This was also the worst result in job creation for the first six months of a year since 2020 — when million formal vacancies were closed amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The comparison of numbers with years prior to 2020, according to analysts, is no longer appropriate because the government changed the methodology. High interest rates The sharp drop in formal job creation was recorded in a context of still high basic interest rates, despite the monetary authority having lowered the rate in three consecutive meetings. Currently at 14.25% per year, the Selic rate, set by the Central Bank (BC), is the highest in the world in real terms (discounting inflation for the next 12 months) in a MoneYou ranking of 40 nations. By keeping interest rates at a high level, the Central Bank points out that it seeks to slow down activity as a strategy to contain inflation. In its considerations on the interest rate level, the BC explains that it monitors the labor market "closely". In the minutes of the last meeting, the Copom assessed that the "unemployment rate has, recurrently, remained at historically low levels while average real incomes have maintained an upward trend above labor productivity growth". "The Committee remains attentive to the debate on the current and structural dimensions of the labor market, emphasizing the need to deepen this analysis to assess transmission patterns from employment levels to labor income and, finally, to prices in the various sectors of the economy", added the BC. Month of June In June of this year alone, according to information from the Ministry of Labor, 145,160 formal jobs were created. In total, according to the federal government, the following were registered in June: ??2.22 million hires; ??2.07 million layoffs. ? The result represents a decline of 10.4% compared to June 2025 — when around 162 thousand formal jobs were created. ?? This was also the worst result for June since 2020, that is, in six years. See the results for the months of January: 2020: 53.38 thousand vacancies closed; 2021: 318.2 thousand jobs created; 2022: 285.26 thousand open positions; 2023: 155.81 thousand open positions; 2024: 206.6 thousand jobs created 2025: 162 thousand vacancies opened. Jobs by sector Figures from the General Register of Employed and Unemployed Persons (Caged) for June 2026 show that formal jobs were created in the five sectors of the economy. Regions of the country The data also reveals that vacancies were opened in the five regions of the country last month. Average admission salary The government also reported that the average admission salary was R$2,404.34 in June this year, which represents a real increase (after inflation) compared to May 2026 (R$2,387.44). Compared to June last year, there was also an increase in the average admission salary. That month, the value was R$2,376.95. Caged x Pnad Data from the General Register of Employed and Unemployed Persons consider workers with a formal contract, that is, they do not include informal workers. As a result, the results are not comparable with the unemployment figures released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), collected through the National Household Sample Survey Continua (Pnad). According to official data, the unemployment rate in Brazil was 5.6% in the quarter ended in May. According to IBGE, this was the lowest rate in the historical series for this period.