Fernandez Says Argentina's Jobless Rate Fell to 7.9% in Second Quarter

Argentina’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest in more than a year in the second quarter as economic growth picked up, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said.

The jobless rate was 7.9 percent in the three months through June, down from 8.8 percent a year earlier, Fernandez said today in Buenos Aires. It’s the lowest unemployment rate since the end of 2008.

“This reveals the vigorous growth we are having,” Fernandez said at the presidential palace, where she signed loan accords with the Corporacion Andina de Fomento, the Andean development lender.

The economy, South America’s second largest after Brazil, is recovering from a slump that cut economic growth to 0.9 percent in 2009, the slowest rate since Argentina pulled out of a recession in 2003. Gross domestic product rose 6.8 percent in the first quarter, the fastest annual pace since 2008.

The national statistics institute is scheduled to release the second-quarter unemployment report Aug. 23.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires at eraszewski@bloomberg.net

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